FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REVj   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM  TO 

THE  LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


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AMEEICAN  REVOLUTION: 


^0litiral  Sa-mons  0f  tl^t  ^mntr  oi  1776, 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION,  NOTES,  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BY 


^</ 


JOHN  WINGATE  THORNTO^nT,  A.M. 


BOSTON: 

GOULD     AND     LINCOLN, 

59     WASHIXOTOX      SXBEET. 

NEW   YORK:    SHELDON   AND    COMPANY. 
CINCINNATI:  GEORGE   S.  BLANCHARD. 

1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

GOULD    AND    LINCOLN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


A  N  D  O  VE  R : 
ELECTROTYPED     AND     PRINTED 
BT     W.     F.     DRAPER. 


mEFJLOE 


The  true  alliance  between  Politics  and  Religion  is  the 
lesson  inculcated  in  this  volume  of  Sermons,  and  apparent  in 
its  title,  "  The  Pulpit  of  the  Revolution."  It  is  the  voice 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic,  enforced  by  their  example. 
They  invoked  God  in  their  civil  assemblies,  called  upon  their 
chosen  teachers  of  religion  for  counsel  from  the  Bible,  and 
recognized  its  precepts  as  the  law  of  their  public  conduct. 
The  Fathers  did  not  divorce  politics  and  religion,  but  they 
denounced  the  separation  as  ungodly.  They  prepared  for  the 
struggle,  and  went  into  battle,  not  as  soldiers  of  fortune,  but, 
like  Cromwell  and  the  soldiers  of  the  Commonwealth,  with  the 
Word  of  God  in  their  hearts,  and  trusting  in  him.  This  was 
the  secret  of  that  moral  energy  which  sustained  the  Republic 
in  its  material  weakness  against  superior  numbers,  and  disci- 
pline, and  all  the  power  of  England.  To  these  Sermons  —  the 
responses  from  the  Pulpit  —  the  State  affixed  its  imprimatur, 
and  thus  they  were  handed  down  to  future  generations  with 
a  two-fold  claim  to  respect. 

The  Union  of  the  colonies  was  a  condition  precedent  to 
American  Nationality.  One  nationality,  and  that  of  a  Pro- 
testant people,  was  essential  to  constitutional  liberty  in  Ame- 
rica. If  the  colonies  had  become  separate  independencies  at 
different  times,  America  would  have  but  repeated  the  history 


IV  PREFACE. 

of  European  divisions  and  wars.  The  combination  and  balance 
of  forces  necessary  to  the  grand  result  seems  to  have  been  cal- 
culated with  the  nicety  of  a  formula.  France,  the  champion  of 
the  Papal  system  of  intellectual  and  political  slavery  and  des- 
potism, and  England,  the  assertor  of  enlightened  freedom,  com- 
peted for  the  dominion  of  America.  The  red  cross  of  St. 
George  shielded  the  brotherhood  of  English  Protestants  from 
the  extermination  meditated  by  Papal  France,  whose  military 
cordon  reached  along  our  northern  and  western  frontiers,  and 
thus  insured  to  England  the  fealty  of  her  Atlantic  colonies,  till, 
"  in  the  fulness  of  time,"  France,  by  the  treaty  of  1763,  relin- 
quished Canada.  Then  the  colonies,  relieved  from  the  hostile 
pressure,  became  restless  under  the  restraints  of  dependency, 
and  England  was  the  only  power  whose  strength  and  common 
relation  to  them  could  at  once  endanger  the  liberty  of  all,  impel 
them  to  a  league  of  domestic  amity,  and  bind  them  in  fraternal 
resistance  to  a  common  enemy.  But  a  brief  contest  would  have 
left  danger  of  colonial  disintegration ;  and  the  stupid  obstinacy 
of  George  III.  was  necessary  to  prolong  the  war  in  order  to 
blend  the  colonists,  by  communion  under  a  national  flag,  in 
national  feeling,  and  by  general  intercourse,  common  inter- 
ests, and  common  sufferings.  So  God  formed  the  fair  Temple 
of  American  Liberty. 

In  his  Election  Sermon  of  1783,  republished  in  this  volume, 
President  Stiles  says,  with  sublime  eloquence,  that  Jefferson 
"poured  the  Soul  of  the  continent  into  the  monu- 
mental Act  of  Independence."  The  Soul  of  the  Kevolu- 
tion  is  embodied  in  documents  like  these,  rather  than  in  the 
statistics  of  sieges  and  battles,  which  were  the  fruits  of  their 
inspiration,  and,  under  God,  the  vindication  of  their  truth. 

The  second  Discourse  in  this  volume  is  on  the  Repeal  of  the 


PREFACE.  V 

Stamp  Act.  The  colonists,  sheltered  under  the  flag  of  Eng- 
land, permitted  her  to  regulate  their  foreign  commerce ;  but  the 
Stamp  Act  violated  their  domestic  independence  ;  and  they 
showed,  by  custom,  by  equity,  and  by  their  charters  from  the 
king,  that  Parliament  had  no  jurisdiction  within  their  terri- 
tories, and  they  refused  to  submit.  England  sent  her  armies 
to  compel  submission,  and  the  colonists  appealed  to  Heaven. 
The  Stamp  Act^  involved  the  principle  in  dispute  for  the  next 
eighteen  years. 

In  his  Sermon  of  1750,  Jonathan  Mayhew  declared  the 
Christian  principles  of  government  in  the  faith  of  which 
Washington,  ordained  of  God,  won  liberty  for  America,  not 
less  for  England,  and  ultimately  for  the  world  ;  so  that  the  en- 
graving of  Mayhew  and  that  of  the  Stamp  fitly  introduce  these 
Sermons  of  the  Revolution.  By  the  conflict  with  her  children, 
England  herself  was  rescued  from  the  slough  of  unlimited 
power  into  which  she  was  fast  drifting  under  George  III. 
The  reaction  roused  her  from  political  apathy,  and  revived  the 
ancient  principles  of  freedom.  By  defeating  England,  Amer- 
ica saved  the  liberty  of  both.     Both  governments  rest  upon 

1  A  stamp  duty  was  a  familiar  tax  in  England.  It  bad  existed  as  far 
back  as  4tli  William  and  Maiy,  1694;  and  the  act  of  1765  was  simply  to 
"  extend "  2  this  mode  of  taxing  to  the  colonies.  The  engraving  upon 
the  title-page  was  taken  from  a  veritable  stamp,  issued  under  that  act,  and 
loaned  to  the  publishers  by  Mr.  Samuel  Foster  Haven,  of  the  American  An- 
tiquarian Society,  through  Mr.  Charles  Emery  Stevens,  of  Worcester, 
whose  valuable  suggestions  in  the  preparation  of  the  work  are  also  grate- 
fully acknowledged.  The  impression  is  on  a  blue,  spongy  paper,  capable  of 
receiving  a  sharp,  distinct  outline,  in  which  was  imbedded  a  slip  of  lead,  or 
soft  white  metal,  as  indicated  in  the  engraving.  The  paper  is  pasted  on 
parchment,  and  on  the  reverse  is  the  royal  cipher,  "  G.  R."  The  word 
"  America  "  was  the  only  difference  between  the  English  and  American 
stamps.    They  were  issued  in  sheets,  like  our  postage  stamps. 

2  Bancroft's  U.  S.,  iv.  ch.  viii;  Knight's  England,  vi.  271. 

1* 


W  PREFACE. 

the  right  of  revolution,  and  the  will  of  the  people  is  the  con- 
stitutional basis  of  each. 

On  presenting  his  credentials  as  American  ambassador,  June 
1, 1785,  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  address  to  King  George  III.,  said : 
"  I  shall  esteem  myself  the  happiest  of  men  if  I  can  be  instru- 
mental in  restoring  an  entire  esteem,  confidence,  and  affection ; 
or,  in  better  words,  the  old  good-nature  and  the  old  good-hu- 
mor between  people,  who,  although  separated  by  ocean,  and 
under  different  governments,  have  the  same  language,  a  similar 
religion,  and  kindi'ed  blood."  ^  God  grant  that  this  benign  spirit 
of  generous  brotherhood,  this  blessed  unity  of  which  he  was 
the  Author,  may  never  be  imperilled  by  malign  counsels.  Now, 
after  three-quarters  of  a  century,  these  ties  of  nature,  stronger 
than  treaties,  reassert  their  genial  sway ;  and  the  heir  of  the 
Throne  of  England  —  the  guest  of  the  Nation  —  and  the 
President  of  the  Republic  stand  reverently  at  the  Tomb  of 
Washington. 

1  See  Index,  "  America  and  England,  Unity  of." 
Boston,  Nov.  21,  1860. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

HISTORICAL  ENTEODUCTION, ix 


DISCOURSE    I. 
DR.  MATHEW-S  SERMON  OF  JAX.  30,  1750. 

tr>'LrMITED  SUBMISSION  A>T)  ^"ON-EESISTA^■CE  TO  THE  HIGHER  POWERS 
—  THE  MYSTERY  OS"  KI>G  CHARLES'S  8A1XTSHIP  AXD  MARTYRDOM 
UXRIDDLED, 


DISCOURSE    II. 

DR.   CHAUNCY'S    THANKSGIVING    SERMON   ON    THE   REPEAL    OF 
THE  STAMP  ACT,  1766. 

THB  NEWS  OP  THE  REPEAL  —  REASONS  FOR  REJOICING  AND  THANKSGIV- 
ING—THE PROPER  USE  TO  BE  MADE  OP  THE  "GOOD  NEWS,"  .  .      105 


DISCOURSE    III. 

MR.  COOKE'S  ELECTION  SERMON,  1770. 

CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  IS  FOR  THE  GOOD  OP  THE  PEOPLE  —  THE  CHARACTER 

OP  GOOD  RULERS,  AND  THE  DUTIES  OP   CITIZENS, 147 

DISCOURSE    IV. 

MR.  GORDON'S  THANKSGIVING  SERMON,  1774. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  DUTY  OF  RESISTANCE  TO  TYRANTS  —  PREPARE  FOR  WAR 

—  APPEAL  TO  HEAVEN, 187 


VIII  CONTENTS. 


DISCOURSE   V. 

PAGE 

DR.  LANGDON'S  ELECTION   SERMON  AT  WATERTOWN,  1775. 

THE   RIGHT  OP  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IS  FROM  GOD  —  THE  DIVINE  RIGHT  OF 

KINGS  EXPLODED, 227 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

MR.  WEST'S  ELECTION  SERMON,  1776. 

THE  TRUE  PRINCIPLES  OF  GOVERNMENT —  THE  MAGISTRATE'S  AUTHORITY 
—  ARBITRARY  POWER  SUBVERSIVE  OF  THE  DESIGN  OF  CIVIL  POLITY  — 
OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  WILL   OF  GOD, ^59 


DISCOURSE   VII. 

MR.  PAYSON'S   ELECTION  SERMON,  1778. 

POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  —  THE  TRUE  SPIRIT  OF  LIBERTY  —  REQUISITES  TO 
A  FREE  GOVERNMENT  —  ITS  DANGERS  —  THE  RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  RUL- 
ERS AND  OF   CITIZENS, 


DISCOURSE   VIII. 

MR.  HOWARD'S  ELECTION  SERMON,  1780. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  TO  THE  HAPPINESS  OF  MANKIND 
—  THE  RIGHT  OF  THE  PEOPLE  TO  CHOOSE  THEIR  OWN  RULERS  — THE 
DUTIES  AND   QUALIFICATIONS  OF   CHRISTIAN  RULERS,      ....      355 


DISCOURSE    IX. 

DR.  STILES'S  ELECTION  SERMON,  1783. 

"THE   UNITED   STATES   EXALTED   TO   GLORY  AND   HONOR,"  .  .  .     399 

INDEX, 521 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  collection  of  Sermons  presents  examples  of  the  politico- 
theological  phase  of  the  conflict  for  American  Independence,  — 
a  phase  not  peculiar  to  that  period.  Its  origin  was  coeval 
with  the  colonization  of  New  England ;  and  a  brief  review  of 
some  leading  points  in  our  history  will  afford  the  best  expla- 
nation  of  its   rise   and   development. 

There  is  a  natural  and  just  union  of  religious  and  civil 
counsels,  —  not  that  external  alliance  of  the  crosier  and  sword 
called  "  Church  and  State,"  —  but  the  philosophical  and  deeper 
union  which  recognizes  God  as  Supreme  Ruler,  and  which  is 
illustrated  in  this  volume  of  occasional  Discourses  and  "  Election 
Sermons,"  —  a  title  equivalent,  in  the  right  intent  of  the  term, 
to   "  political   preaching." 

There  is  also  a  historical  connection,  which  is  to  be  found 
rather  in  the  general  current  of  history  than  in  particular 
instances.  In  this  we  may  trace  the  principle,  or  vital  cord, 
which  runs  through  our  own  separate  annals  since  our  fathers 
came  to  the  New  World,  and  also  marks  the  progress  of  liberty 
and  individual  rights  in  England.  "New  England  has  the  proud 
distinction  of  tracing  her  origin  to  causes  purely  moral  and 
intellectual,  —  a  fact  which  fixes  the  character  of  her  founders 
and  planters   as   elevated  and   refined,  —  not  the   destroyers   of 


X  INTRODUCTIO  N. 

cities,  provinces,  and  empires,  but  the  founders  of  civilization 
in  America." 

The  word  clergie  is  in  itself  historical,  meaning,  in  the  Norman 
tongue,  literature.  In  early  times,  -when  learning  was  almost 
exclusively  with  the  clergy,  they,  by  this  monopoly,  held  almost 
the  whole  power  of  church  and  state.  We  may  see  an  illus- 
tration of  this  union  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  functions  in  the 
Annals  of  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells,  which  yielded  from  its 
diocesan  list  to  the  civil  state  of  England  six  Lord  Chancel- 
lors, eight  Lord  High  Treasurers,  two  Lords  Privy  Seal,  one 
Master  of  the  Kolls,  one  Lord  President  of  Wales,  one  prin- 
cipal Secretary  of  State ;  and  to  higher  Episcopal  office,  five 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  three  Archbishops  of  York,  and, 
says  the  annalist  of  the  diocese,  "  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  the  cause  of  Monarchy,  and  of  Orthodoxy,  one  martyr, 
WilUam  Laud." 

But,  of  all  the  names  in  that  priestly  catalogue,  to  Arthur 
Lake  belongs  the  transcendent  honor,  the  highest  distinction  ; 
for  it  was  his  missionary  spirit  that  originated  the  movement 
which  led  to  the  colonization  of  Massachusetts,  —  an  enterprise 
greatly  indebted  for  its  success  to  the  unhappy  zeal  of  his  im- 
mediate successor  in  the  office  of  bishop,  the  "  martyr "  Laud. 
As  this  execrable^  prelate  embodied  the  principles  and  spirit 
of  the  hierarchy ;  as  he  had  a  controlling  agency  in  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England,  by  "  harrying "  the  Puritans  out  of  Old 
England;  and  as  he  has  ever  been  remembered  with  abhorrence 
by  their  descendants,  some  of  whose  early  Puritan  "  prejudices," 
not  yet  eradicated,  may  very  possibly  reach  future  generations, 
mention  of  a   characteristic    act  in    his  official   life   may  be  per- 

1  For  an  opposite  view  of  Archbishop  Laud's  character,  and  the  principles 
involved  in  it,  read  his  "  Life  and  Times,"  by  John  Lawson  Parker.  2  vols.  8vo. 
London  :  1829. 


I  NTRODUCTI  ON.  XI 

tinent  to  our  inquiry.  It  was  this  :  Mr.  Leighton,  a  Scotch  divine, 
being  convicted  of  writing  a  book  denouncing  the  severities  of  the 
hierarchy,  Bishop  Laud  pulled  off  his  hat  when  sentence  was 
pronounced  on  the  offender,  and  gave  God  thanks  for  the  victory. 
This  was  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  in  keeping  with  the  general 
tone  of  proceedings  which  prevailed  in  this  court,  in  the  council, 
and  in  the  government  generally,  during  Laud's  time. 

Mr.  Leighton  "  was  severely  whipped ;  then,  being  set  in  the 
pillory,  his  ear  was  cut  off,  his  nose  slit,  and  his  cheek  was  branded, 
with  a  red-hot  iron,  S.  S.,  as  a  Sower  of  Sedition.  On  that  day 
week  —  the  sores  on  his  back,  ears,  nose,  and  face  not  being  cured  — 
he  was  whipped  again  at  the  pillory,  in  Cheapside,  and  the  remain- 
der of  his  sentence  executed  by  cutting  off  his  other  ear,  slitting 
the  other  side  of  his  nose,  and  branding  his  other  cheek." 

This  man.  Laud,  who  conceived,  perpetrated,  revelled  in,  and 
recorded  in  his  private  diary  these  disgusting  details,  was  by  Charles 
L  promoted  step  by  step  in  Episcopal  office,  till,  in  1633,  three 
years  after  the  outrage  on  Leighton,  and  the  next  after  his  brutality 
on  Prynne,  —  this  man  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
the  primate  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  representative  man  of 
the  hierarchy.  The  New  Englanders  always  spoke  of  him  as  "  our 
great  enemy." 

Early  in  the  next  year — 1634  —  this  primate,  "  with  my  Lord 
Privy  Seal,"  after  an  examination  in  council  of  Governor  Cradock  ^ 

1  Governor  Mathewe  Cradock,  though  prominent  in  early  Massachusetts 
annals,  never  set  foot  in  New  England.  The  house  built  on  his  plantation,  in 
what  is  Medford,  in  1634,  is  yet  standing,  —  one  of  the  precious  memorials  of 
early  times.  Brooks'  History  of  Medford  honors  him  as  "  the  founder  ''  of  the 
town,  and  contains  a  picture  of  the  house.  After  the  removal  of  the  colony  from 
Cape  Ann  to  Salem,  in  1626,  under  Governor  Conant,  some  of  the  persevering 
members  of  "  the  Dorchester  Company,"  Avhich  had  originated  the  enterprise 
of  colonizing  Massachusetts,  effected,  with  new  associates,  a  new  organization,  for 
continuing  and  exjmnding  the  colonization  of  New  England,  which  was  at  a  later 
period  —  March  4, 1628-9—  "  confirmed  "  by  charter  from  Charles  I.  Of  this  new 
"coTwpani/"  Cradock  was  appointed  the  first  governor,  and  John  Endecott  was 


XII  INTRODUCTION. 

and  other  friends  of  the  colonists,  and  of"  all  tlieir  correspondence" 
with  "the  brethren  "in  New  England,  called  them  all  "  imposturous 
knaves,"  promised  "  the  cropping  of  ]\ir.  Winthrop's  ears,"  the  loss 
of  the  colonial  charter,  and  a  "  general  governor  "  over  all  the  colo- 
nies, to  do  his  bloody  behests.  "If  Jove  vouchsafe  to  thunder, 
the  charter  and  the  kingdom  of  the  separatists  will  fall  asunder," 
and  so  end  "  King  Winthrop,  with  all  his  inventions,  and  his 
Amsterdam  and  fantastical  ordinances,  his  preachings,  marriages, 
and  other  abusive  ceremonies,  which  exemplify  his  detestation  of 
tlie  Church  of  England^  and  contempt  of  his  Majesty's  authority 
and  wholesome  laws"!  "Winthrop's  ears  were  not  cropped,  and 
Laud  became  a  —  '■'■  martyr" ! 

From  such  a  gospel  the  New  England  Puritans  fled ;  and  in 
the  celebrated  pulpit  at  Saint  Paul's  Cross,  in  London,  its  clergy 
preached  often  and  bitterly  against  the  New  England  colonies 
and  planters,  especially  Massachusetts,  who,  by  limiting  their 
franchise  to  members  of  tlieir  own  communion,  kept  out  of  political 
power  those  enemies^  who  followed  them  hither,  and  who  would 
have  overturned  the  Commonwealth, — which  some  attempted, 
as  in  the  case  of  Child,  Vassal,  the  infamous  Maverick,  and  others. 
When  the  Colony  became  a  State,  with  an  educated  people,  the 
bars  were  let  down,  and  suffrage  was  extended. 


the  first,  if  not  the  only,  goveruor  of  the  colony  under  this  charter.  —  Massachu- 
setts Col.  Kec,  "  The  Landing  at  Cape  Ann,"  and  authorities  there  cited.  See 
note  1,  p.  xxiii. 

1  In  the  admirable  state  paper  from  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  Tarliament,  in 
1651,  they  say:  "  We,  .  .  being  men  able  enough  to  live  in  England  with  our 
neighbours,  and  being  helpfull  to  others,  and  not  needing  the  help  of  any  for 
outward  thinges,  about  three  or  four  and  twenty  years  since,  seeing  just  cause  to 
feare  the  persecution  of  the  then  bishops  and  high  commission,  for  not  conform- 
ing to  the  ceremonies  then  pressed  upon  the  consciences  of  those  under  their 
power,  we  thought  it  our  safest  course  to  get  outside  of  the  world,  out  of  their 
vietv,  a7id  beyond  their  reach,  ....  coming  hither  at  our  proper  charges 
without  the  help  of  the  State,  .  .  .  having  expended,  first  and  last,  .  .  .  . 
divers  hundreds  of  thousands  pounds." 


INTRODUCTION.  XIII 

It  was  well  said  in  Stoughton's  Election  Sermon,  preached  in 
1668,  that  "  God  sifted  a  whole  nation  that  he  might  send  choice 
grain  over  into  this  wilderness."  ..."  They  were  men  of  great 
renown  in  the  nation  from  whence  the  Laudian  persecution  exiled 
them ;  their  learning,  their  holiness,  their  gravity,  struck  all  men 
that  knew  them  with  admiration.  They  were  Timothies  in  their 
houses,  Chrysostoms  in  their  pulpits,  Augustines  in  their  disputa- 
tions." Indeed,  this  exodus  of  so  many  of  the  choicest  of  England's 
educated  and  Christian  sons,  consequent  upon  this  fanaticism  for  the 
church,  —  not  religion,  —  alarmed  the  sober-minded.  We  find  an 
expression  of  this  in  the  anecdote  of  the  vice-chancellor's  strenuous 
exception  to  printing  the  two  lines  in  Herbert's  "  Temple," — 

*'  Religion  stands  a-tiptoe  in  our  land, 
Keady  to  pass  to  the  American  strand,"  — 

when  they  requested  his  imprimatur  for  that  poem ;  and  his  reluctant 
assent  .was  given  with  the  "  hope  that  the  world  would  not  take 
Herbert  for  an  inspired  prophet."  This  was  in  1633.  Towards 
the  close  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  the  judicious  Hooker  defined 
the  "clergy  as  a  state"  —  or  order  of  men  —  "  whereunto  the  rest 
of  God's  people  must  be  subject,  as  touching  "  —  only  —  "  things 
that  appertain  to  their  soul's  health."  This  was  a  great  advance  in 
the  right ;  but  the  leaven  of  Puritanism  had  then  been  some  time 
fermenting  in  England,  and  many  of  the  churchmen  now  chal- 
lenged this  claim  of  the  priesthood. 

A  late  able  writer  ^  sums  up  clearly  "  the  points  upon  which  the 
Puritan  clergy  and  their  lords  were  at  issue.  In  substance  the  pre- 
lates claimed  that  every  word,  ceremony,  and  article,  written  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  in  the  Book  of  Ordination,  was  as 
faultless  and  as  binding  as  the  Book  of  God,  and  must  be  acknowl- 


1  Hopkins,  "  Puritanism  and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  vol.  ii.  p. 

2 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

edged  as  such.  The  Puritans  dared  not  say  it.  The  prelates 
claimed  to  themselves  —  or,  more  modestly,  to  the  church  which 
they  personified  —  an  infallibility  of  judgment  in  all  things  pertain- 
ing to  religion.  The  Puritans  denied  the  claim.  The  prelates 
claimed  obedience ;  the  Puritans,  manhood  5  the  prelates,  spiritual 
lordship  ;  the  Puritans,  Christian  liberty."  And  these  preposter- 
ous claims  of  the  prelates  rested  upon  acts  of  Parliament ! 

The  quarrel  was  in  the  church.  Some  of  these  Puritans  fled  to 
New  England.  They  came  hither  protesting  against  these  prelatical 
assumptions,  and  were  really  a  church  rather  than  a  state.  Separa- 
tion from  the  Church  of  England  was  at  first  viewed  by  those  of 
Massachusetts  with  repugnance;  but  it  was  facilitated  by  a  quasi 
adoption  of  a  very  mild  type  of  the  Genevan  or  Presbyterian 
polity,  the  validity  of  whose  ordination  had  been  repeatedly  recog- 
nized by  the  hierarchy,  and  also  declared  by  Act  of  Parliament, 
13th  Elizabeth;  the  very  same  authority  which  created  the  "Estab- 
lished "  Church,  and  tinkered  its  "  infallibility  "  to  suit  the  changing 
times.  But  soon  "  they  read  this  clearly,"  as  did  Oliver  Cromwell, 
John  Milton,  and  John  Cotton,  that 

"  New  Presbyter  is  but  Old  Priest  writ  large." 

As  they  were  already  imbued  with  the  spirit,  they  gradually  adopted 
the  principles  of  Independency,  —  absolute  democracy,  —  essen- 
tially as  held  and  taught  by  their  Plymouth  brethren.  This  was  the 
legitimate  result  of  the  Reformation,  and  it  was  distinctly  conceded 
to  be  such  by  one  of  Hooker's  ablest  scholars,  George  Cranmer. 
In  a  letter  to  his  teacher,  he  said :  "  If  the  positions  of  the  Reform- 
ers be  true,  I  cannot  see  how  the  main  and  general  conclusions  of 
Brownism  "  —  Independency  —  "  should  be  false."  ^  That  great  man. 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  incidentally  renders  them  a  noble  tribute,  in 

1  In  the  Appendix  to  Izaak  Walton's  Life  of  Mr.  Richard  Hooker. 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

his  admirable  article  on  the  philosophical  genius  of  Bacon  and 
Locke.  Mr.  Locke  was  admitted  to  Christ  Chui-ch  College  In  1651, 
when  Dr.  Owen,  the  Independent,  was  Dean,  —  the  same  who  was 
thought  of  for  the  presidency  of  Harvard  College.  "  Educated," 
says  Sir  James,  "  among  the  EngUsh  Dissenters,  during  the  short 
period  of  their  political  ascendency,  he  early  imbibed  the  deep 
piety  and  ardent  spirit  of  liberty  which  actuated  that  body  of  men ; 
and  he  probably  imbibed  also,  in  their  schools,  the  disposition  to 
metaphysical  inquiries  which  has  everywhere  accompanied  the  Cal- 
vlnlstic  theology.  Sects,  founded  on  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
naturally  tend  to  purify  themselves  from  intolerance,  and  In  time 
to  learn  to  respect  in  others  the  freedom  of  thought  to  the  exercise 
of  which  they  owe  their  own  existence.  By  the  Independent  di- 
vines, who  were  his  Instructors,  our  philosopher  was  taught  those 
principles  of  religious  liberty  ichicli  they  were  thefrst  to  disclose  to  the 
worldr 

Such  was  the  origin  of  New  England  ;  such  the  men  who  founded 
it  Religion,  the  church,  was  the  great  thought,  and  civil  interests 
were  only  incidental.  This  is  not  only  evident  In  our  history,  as 
already  narrated,  but  it  is  distinctly  avowed  and  reiterated  in  the 
writings  of  the  fathers  of  New  England  from  the  very  beginning. 
Thus  Roger  Conant,  the  first  Governor  of  Massachusetts  Colony, 
suggested  to  the  Rev.  John  White,  of  Dorchester,  that  It  might  be  a 
refuge  from  the  coming  storm  "on  account  of  religion."'^  Protes- 
tantism seemed  to  be  in  great  danger  on  the  Continent  and  in  Eng- 
land, where  the  king,  court,  and  many  of  the  hierarchy  were  more 
than  suspected  of  sympathy  with  Popery.  ^Mr.  White  conferred 
with  Bishop  Lake,  who  favored  the  suggestion,  especially  as  an 
opportunity  for  Christian  missions  among  the  Indians,  and  entered 

1  History  of  Xew  England,  Edit.  184S,  p.  107,  by  Hubbard,  who,  no  doubt,  had 
the  facts  from  Governor  Conant  himself,  who  lived  at  Beverly,  near  Ipswich, 
Hubbard's  residence. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

into  it  with  such  zeal  as  to  say  to  Mr.  AYhite  that  "  he  would  go 
himself  but  for  his  age."-^ 

This  most  Christian  bishop  availed  himself  of  an  early  and  prov- 
idential opportunity  to  speak,  with  apostolic  earnestness,  on  the 
national  neglect  and  duty  in  this  matter.  On  the  second  of  July, 
1625,  he  "  preached  in  Westminster,  before  his  Majestie,  the  Lords, 
and  others  of  the  Upper  House  of  Parliament,  at  the  opening  of 
the  Fast,"^  which  had  been  ordered  throughout  the  kingdom,  on 
petition  of  the  Puritan  Parliament.  It  was  on  account  of  the  pub- 
lic calamities,  civil  and  religious.  He  spoke  with  great  plainness. 
"  There  is,"  he  said,  "  a  kind  of  metaphysical  locusts  and  caterpillars, 
—  locusts  that  come  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  —  I  mean  popish  priests 
and  Jesuits,  —  and  caterpillars  of  the  Commonwealth,  projectors  and 
inventors  of  new  tricks  "  —  well  known  to  the  king  and  others  who 
listened  to  these  words  — "  how  to  exhaust  the  purses  of  the  sub- 
jects, covering  private  ends  with  public  pretences ;  ...  in 
well-governed  states  they  were  wont  to  be  called  Pestes  Reipublicce, 
Plagues  of  the  Commonwealth."  Near  the  close  of  his  sermon,  the 
preacher  said :  "  Neither  is  it  enough  for  us  to  make  much  of  God's 
truth  for  our  own  good,  but  also  we  should  propagate  it  to  others. 
And  here  let  me  tell  you,  that  there  lieth  a  great  guilt  upon 
Christian  states,  and  England  among  the  rest,  that  they  have  not 
been  careful  to  bring  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow 
of  death  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ  and  participation  of  the  gos- 


1  The  anecdote  seems  to  come  direct  from  the  lips  of  Mr.  White  to  Mr.  Hugh 
Peter,  who  records  it  in  his  autobiography,  — "  Last  Legacy  to  his  Daugh- 
ter," Boston,  Ed.  1717,  p.  77,  — and  says,  "  That  good  man,  my  dear  firm  friend, 
Mr.  White,  of  Dorchester,  and  Bishop  Lake,  occasioned,  yea,  founded  that 
■work;"  i.  e.,  Massachusetts  Colony.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  tliat  part  of  Archbishop 
Laud's  library  came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Teter,  who  intended  to  send  it 
to  New  England.  There  is  an  interesting  reference  to  Mr.  White  and  Mr.  Teter 
in  Governor  Cradock's  letter  to  Governor  Endecott.    Mass.  Records,  i.  384. 

2  "  Svndrie  Sermons  de  tempore,  by  Arthur  Lake,  D.  of  Diuinitie,  Lord  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Welles."    London,  1629:  folios  200—220. 


INTRODUCTION.  XVII 

pel.  Much  travelling  to  the  Indies,  East  and  West,  but  -wherefor  ? 
Some  go  to  possess  themselves  of  the  lands  of  the  infidels,  but 
most,  by  commerce,  to  grow  richer  by  their  goods.  But  where 
is  the  prince  or  state  that  pitieth  their  souls,  and,  without  any 
■worldly  respects,  endeavours  the  gaining  of  them  unto  God  ?  Some 
show  we  make,  but  it  is  a  poor  one  ;  for  it  is  but  an  accessorie  to 
our  worldly  desire  ;  it  is  not  our  primary  intention  ;  whereas  Christ's 
method  is,  first  seek  ye  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  then  all  other  things 
shall  he  added  unto  you ;  you  shall  fare  the  better  for  it  in  your 
worldly  estate.  If  the  apostles  and  apostolic  men  had  aflfected  our 
salvation  no  more,  we  might  have  continued  to  this  day  such  as 
sometimes  we  were,  barbarous  subjects  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness." 

In  exact  accordance  with  these  teachings,  the  king  and  colonists 
declared  "the  principal  ende  of  this  plantation"  of  Massachusetts 
to  be,  "  to  win  and  incite  the  natives  of  the  country  to  the  knowl- 
edge and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind, 
and  the  Christian  faith  ;  "  and  to  complete  the  moral  unity  of  the 
bishop's  missionary  sermon,  and  the  designs  of  our  fathers,  we  par- 
allel with  his  anathema  against  the  Papacy  the  first  of  their  "  gen- 
eral considerations  for  the  plantation  in  New  England,"  which  was 
in  these  words  :  "  It  will  be  a  service  to  the  church,  of  great  conse- 
quence, to  carry  the  gospell  into  those  parts  of  the  world,  and  to 
7'aise  a  bulwarke  against  the  kingdom  of  antichrist,  which  the  Jesuits* 
labor  to  rear  up  in  all  places  of  the  world." 

When  the  "governor  and  companie" — that  branch  of  the 
Massachusetts  government  which,  under  the  charter,  had  its  legal 
residence  in  England  —  were  about  emigrating  to  the  colony,  they 
issued  a  manifesto,  April  7,  1630,  declaring  themselves  to  be  a 


1  "  The  Jesuits,"  wrote  John  Cotton,  in  1647,  "  have  professed  to  some  of  our 
merchants  and  marriners,  they  look  at  our  plantations  (and  at  some  of  us  by- 
name) as  dangerous  supplanters  of  the  Catholick  cause  "  in  America,  especially  in 
Canada. 

2* 


XVIII  INTRODUCTION. 

CHURCH,  "  a  weake  colonie  from  their  brethren  in  and  of  the  Church 
of  England,"  as  "  the  Church  of  Philippi  was  a  colony  of  the 
church  at  Rome."  The  Rev.  John  Norton,  in  the  Election  Sermon 
of  1661,  said  that  they  came  "  into  this  wilderness  to  live  under  the 
order  of  the  gospel ;  "  "  that  our  polity  may  be  a  gospel  polity,  and 
may  be  compleat  according  to  the  Scriptures,  answering  fully  the 
Word  of  God :  this  is  the  work  of  our  generation,  and  the  very 
work  we  engaged  for  into  this  wilderness ;  this  is  the  scope  and 
end  of  it,  that  which  is  icritten  upon  the  forehead  of  New  England, 
viz.,  the  compleat  walking  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  according  to 
the  order  of  the  gospel." 

The  venerable  Higginson,  of  Salem,  in  his  Election  Sermon  of 
1663,  stated  the  point  with  great  fulness,  as  follows  :  "  It  concerneth 
New  England  always  to  remember  that  they  are  originally  a 
plantation  religious,  not  a  plantation  of  trade.  The  profession  of 
the  purity  of  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline,  is  written  upon 
her  forehead.  Let  merchants,  and  such  as  are  increasing  cent, 
per  cent.,  remember  this :  that  worldly  gain  was  not  the  end  and 
design  of  the  people  of  New  England,  but  religion.  And  if  any 
man  among  us  make  religion  as  twelve,  and  the  world  as  thirteen, 
such  an  one  hath  not  the   spirit  of  a  true   New  England  man." 

In  the  Election  Sermon  of  1677,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
uttered  these  words :  "  It  was  love  to  God  and  to  Jesus  Christ 
which  brought  our  fathers  into  this  wilderness.  .  .  .  They 
did  not,  in  their  coming  hither,  propound  any  great  matters  to 
themselves  respecting  this  world;  only  that  they  should  have 
liberty  to  serve  God,  and  to  walk  with  him  in  all  the  waves  of  his 
worship.  .  .  .  There  never  was  a  generation  that  did  so  per- 
fectly shake  off  the  dust  of  Babylon,  both  as  to  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  constitution,  as  the  first  generation  of  Christians  that  came 
into  this  land  for  the  gospel's  sake." 

The  Rev.  William  Hubbard,  the  historian,  in  a  Fast-day  sermon, 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

preached  June  24,  1682,  declared  that  the  fathers  "came  not 
hither  for  the  world,  or  for  land,  or  for  traffic  ;  but  for  religion, 
and  for  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  worship  of  God,  which  was 
their  only  design." 

The  historical  fact  was  stated  by  President  Stiles,  of  Yale  College, 
in  1 783  :  "  It  is  certain  that  civil  dominion  was  but  the  second 
motive,  religion  the  primary  one,  with  our  ancestors,  in  coming 
hither  and  settling  this  land.  It  was  not  so  much  their  design  to  es- 
tablish religion  for  the  benefit  of  the  state,  as  civil  government  for  the 
benefit  of  religion,  and  as  subservient,  and  even  necessary,  towards 
the  peaceable  enjoyment  and  unmolested  exercise  of  religion  —  of 
that  religion  for  which  they  fled  to  these  ends  of  the  earth."  ^ 

The  result  of  all  this  was,  a  new  community,  voluntarily  gathered 
in  New  England,  primarily  for  religion,  organized  into  many 
"  independent "  churches,  each  of  them  a  petty  democracy,  electing 
its  officers  and  ministers,  making  its  own  laws,  and  regulating  its 
own  affairs,  so  far  as  possible,  by  the  system  of  polity  indicated 
with  more  or  less  distinctness  in  holy  Scripture.  Out  of  this 
condition  of  things  the  state  was  gradually  developed.  Here  was 
individualism,  —  an  admirable  system  for  making  good  full-blooded 
Puritan  citizens,  but  very  poor  and  unmanageable  subjects.  So 
George  HI.  and  George  Grenville,  "  The  Gentle  Shepherd,"  found 
it  in  1763  and  afterward. 

By  the  change,  the  clergy  could  retain  no  authority,  but  their 
influence  was  probably  increased.  They  had  "  great  power  in 
the  people's  hearts,"  says  Winthrop.  Religion  predominated  over 
all  other  interests. 

"  As  near  the  law  of  God  as  they  can  "  be,  was  the  instruction 
of  the  General  Court  to  their  committee  of  laity  and  ministry,  ap- 

1  This  very  exact  statement  of  fact  explains  the  exclusive  policy  of  the  early 
legislation.  It  was  at  that  time  absolutely  necessary  to  self-preservation  against 
the  plottings  of  the  hierarchy,  to  confine  the  privilege  of  franchise  to  tlieir 
known  friends. 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

pointed  to  frame  laws  for  the  Commonwealth.  Their  first  ^  written 
code,  under  the  charter  of  1629,  was  drawn  by  a  minister.  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  Hugh  Peter,  and  Thomas  Welde,  min- 
isters, were  the  colonial  agents  from  Massachusetts  to  the  mother 
country  in  1641,  to  aid. "  m /ur^/imn^  the  work  of  the  reformation 
of  the  churches  there"  and  in  relation  to  our  colonial  affairs;  but 
"  some  reasons  were  alleged  "  —  though  ineffectually  —  "  that  offi- 
cers should  not  be  taken  from  their  churches  for  civil  occasions." 

This  was  coincident,  in  time  and  spirit,  with  the  exclusion  of 
the  bishops  from  Parliament,  which,  says  Hallam,  was  the  latest 
concession  that  the  king  made  before  his  final  appeal  to  arms  at 
the  battle  of  Edgehill,  October  23,  1642.  Sir  Edward  Verney,  who 
was  there  killed,  declared  his  reluctance  to  fight  for  the  bishops, 
whose  cause  he  took  it  to  be. 

The  name  of  Hugh  Peter  reminds  us  that  New  England  shared 
in  the  English  revolution  of  1640 ;  sent  preachers  and  soldiers, 
aid  and  comfort,  to  Cromwell ;  gave  an  asylum  to  the  tyrannicides, 
Whalley,  Goffe,  and  Dixwell;  reaffirmed  the  same  maxims  of 
liberty  in  the  revolution  of  1688,  and  so  stood  right  on  the  record 
for  the  third  revolution  of  1776. 

Hutchinson  says  that  the  Rev.  John  Cotton  was  supposed  to  have 
been  more  instrumental  in  the  settlement  of  their  civil  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  polity  than  any  other  man.  He  too,  the  representa- 
tive man  of  New  England,  was,  as  could  not  be  otherwise  expected, 
remembering  his  life,  a  sound  "  Commonwealth's "  man.  To  him, 
"Pastor  of  the  Church  at  Boston,  in  New  England,"  Cromwell 
wrote,^  in  a  letter  from  London,  2d  October,  1651:  ...  "I 
received  yours  a  few  days  since.     It  was  welcome  to  me  because 

1  Kev.  Dr.  Felt  (Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  i.  p  166)  shows  that  laws  had  been 
enacted,  under  Governor  Endecott's  administration,  prior  to  the  transfer  of  the 
"  companie  "  to  the  colony  in  1629. 

2  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  Letter  cxxv.,  and  Harris's  Lives,  iii.  518,  where  the  letter 
was  first  published.     Cotton's  letter  is  in  Hutchinson's  Coll.  233. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

signed  by  you,  -whom  I  love  and  honor  in  the  Lord ;  but  more 
to  see  some  of  the  same  grounds  of  our  acting  stirring  in  you  that 
are  in  us,  to  quiet  us  in  our  work,  and  support  us  therein." 

Here  we  cannot  but  stop  for  a  moment  by  the  way  to  notice  a 
beautiful  and  significant  incident,  of  recent  date,  which  must 
excite  delight,  if  not  exultation.  It  is  this :  The.  very  Episcopal  au- 
thorities which  silenced  the  voice  of  Cotton  within  the  venerable  walls 
of  Boston  Church,  in  Lincolnshire,  in  England,  and  banished  him  and 
his  Puritan  brethren,  after  the  lapse  of  two  centuries  invited  us,  the 
descendants  of  those  exiles,  to  join  with  them  in  brotherly  union 
to  render  distinguished  honors  to  his  memory.  The  "  Founder's 
Chapel "  of  the  noble  church,  beautifully  renovated,  was  reopened 
as  "  Cotton  Chapel,"  and  in  the  eastern  arch  was  set  a  large,  highly 
ornamented  memorial  tablet  of  brass,  bearing  an  inscription  in 
Latin,  from  the  classical  pen  of  Mr.  Everett ;  in  English,  as  follows : 

In  perpetual  remembrance  of 

JOHN   COTTON, 

"Who,  during  the  reigns  of  James  and  Charles, 

Was  for  many  years  a  grave,  skilful,  learned,  and 

laborious  Vicar  of  this  Church. 

Afterwards,  on  account  of  the  miserable  commotion 

amongst    sacred   affairs 

In  his  own  country. 

He  sought  a  new  settlement  in  a  New  World, 

And  remained  even  to  the  end  of  his  life 

A  pastor  and  teacher 

Of  the  greatest  reputation  and  of  the  greatest  authority 

In  the  first  church  of  Boston,  in  New  England, 

Which  receives  this  venerable  name 

In  honor  of  Cotton. 

Ccxxv  years  having  passed  away  since  his  migration, 

His  descendants  and  the  American  citizens  of  Boston  were  incited 

to  this  pious  work  by  their  English 

brethren, 

In  order  that  the  name  of  an  illustrious  man, 

The  love  and  honor  of  both  worlds. 

Might  not  any  longer  be  banished  from  that  noble 

temple. 

In  which  he  diligently,  learnedly,  and  sacredly 

Expounded   the    divine    oracles   for  so    many   years; 

And  willingly  and  gratuitously  caused  this  shrine  to  be  restored 

and  this  tablet  to  be  erected, 

In  the  year  of  our  recovered  salvation  1857. 


XXII  INTRODUCTION. 

The  American  flag  and  the  British  color  floated  majestically  from 
St.  Botolph's  tovver.^ 

The  BishojD  of  Lincoln,  the  Bishop  of  London  (Laud's  successor), 
and  other  clergy,  took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  day.  The 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  preached,  taking  for  his  text  the  fourth  chapter 
of  Ezra,  fourth  verse ;  "Xei  us  build  with  you,  for  we  seek  your  God 
as  ye  do ; "  and  this  reopening  of  St.  Botolph's,  as  if  to  give  more 
emphasis  to  the  occasion  and  the  words,  was  his  first  official  act 
as  diocesan  of  Lincoln. 

The  significance  of  this  celebration  can  be  best  appreciated, 
perhaps,  by  conjecturing  the  amazement  of  Archbishop  Laud,  and 
his  victim,  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  could  they  have  witnessed  the 
occasion !  Each  of  them  will  be  judged  according  to  his  works ; 
and  the  world  has  learned  wisdom  by  them. 

To  resume  our  point:  In  1662,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of 
the  General  Court  and  of  the  ministry,  Mr.  Simon  Bradstreet 
and  Rev.  John  Norton  went  to  England,  as  colonial  agents,  to  se- 
cure the  charter  against  their  ancient  foes,  who  had  distinguished 
their  restoration  to  power  by  the  cruel  Act  #f  Uniformity ;  and 
twenty-five  years  later,  in  a  most  important  crisis,  we  find  Massa- 
chusetts again  represented  by  a  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Increase 
Mather,  who  procured  the  provincial  charter  of  1694.  Indeed, 
the  clergy  were  generally  consulted  by  the  civil  authorities ; 
and  not  infrequently  the  suggestions  from  the  pulpit,  on  election 
days  and  other  special  occasions,^  were  enacted  into  laws.     The 

1  Boston,  Lincolnshire,  England,  derives  its  name  from  Mr.  Botolph,  or  St. 
Botolph,  who  there  built  a  monastery  in  654  j  and  in  Botolph's  town  the  present 
magnificent  church,  245  by  98  feet  within  its  walls,  was  built  in  1309;  and  its 
lofty  tower,  300  feet  in  height,  is  named  in  honor  of  St.  Botolph.  Mr.  Pishey 
Thompson's  History  of  Boston  contains  an  elegant  engraving  and  a  minute 
account  of  this  venerable  pile. 

2  Among  the  causes  for  *'  fasting  and  humiliation,"  or  "  thanksgiving,"  as 
they  appeared  upon  the  records,  are,  » to  seek  the  Lord  for  his  direction  "  — 
«'  to  intreat  the  help  of  God  "  —  "  for  humiliation  to  seek  the  face  of  God  "  — 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIII 

statute-book,  the  reflex  of  the  age,  shows  this  influence.  The  State 
icas  developed  out  of  the  Church. 

The  annual  "  Election  Sermon  "  —  a  perpetual  memorial^  con- 
tinued down  through  the  generations  from  century  to  century  — 
still  bears  witness  that  our  fathers  ever  began  their  civil  year 
and  its  responsibilities  with  an  appeal  to  Heaven,  and  recognized 
Christian  morality  as  the  only  basis  of  good  laws. 

The  origin  of  this  anniversary  is  to  be  found  in  the  charter  of 
"the. governor  and  companie  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England,"  which  provided  that  "  one  governor,  one  deputy-gov- 
ernor, and  eighteen  assistants,  and  all  other  oflicers  of  the  said 
companie,"  —  not  of    the    colony^  —  should   be   chosen    in   their 


"  novelties,  oppression,  atheism,  excess,  superfluity,  idleness,  contempt  of  author- 
ity, and  troubles  in  other  parts"  of  the  world  "to  be  remembered"  —  "for 
the  want  of  rain,  and  help  of  brethren  in  distress  "  —  "  in  regard  of  our  wants, 
and  the  dangers  of  our  native  country"  —  "for  God's  great  mercy  to  the 
churches  in  Germany  and  the  Palatinate  "  —  "  for  a  bountiful  harvest,  and  for 
the  arrival  of  persons  of  special  use  and  quality  "  —  "for  success  and  safe  return 
of  the  Pequot  expedition,  success  of  the  conference  at  Newton,  and  gojod  news 
from  Germany" — "sad  condition  of  our  native  country."  These  occurred 
before  the  year  1644.  May  29th,  of  that  year,  it  was  "  ordered,  the  printer  shall 
have  leave  to  print  the  Election  Sermon,  with  Mr.  Mather's  consent,  and  the 
Artillery  Sermon,  with  Mr.  iSorton's  consent." 

1  These  were  the  officers  of  the  "  companie  "  in  England;  but  the  charter  also 
provided  for  another  government  in  New  England  —  "  for  the  formes  and  cere- 
monies of  government  and  magistracie  fitt  and  necessary"  in  and  for  the  "  plan- 
tation," or  colony.  Thus  the  charter  ordained  two  governments,  —  one  for  the 
"  COMPANIE  "  in  England,  and  resident  there,  and  one  in  and  for  the  colony  in 
New  England,  —  and  two  such  governments  existed,  Mathewe  Cradock  being 
governor  of  the  "  companie,"  and  Endecott  governor  of  the  colony.  The  illegal 
transfer  of  the  government  of  the  "  companie"  to  New  England  invalidated 
both  governments,  and  rendered  the  colonial  government,  as  provided  for  by 
the  charter,  practically  impossible.  As  we  have  seen,  Endecott  was  the  legally 
elected  governor  of  the  "  plantation,"  and  he  was  never  legally  displaced.  On 
tlie  20th  of  October,  1629,  Cradock  resigning,  Winthrop  succeeded  him  as  gover- 
nor of  the  "  companie,"  but  not  of  the  colony,  for  one  year;  and  as  the  records 
show  no  election  after,  till  May  18, 1631,  there  was  an  interregnum  of  about  seven 
months,  till  Winthrop  became  defacto^  but  not  dejure,  governor, — the  charter 
distinction  between  the  "  companie  "  and  the  "  plantation  "  being  winked  out  of 
sight,  and  the  two  made  one  in  fact.    "  The  whole  structure  of  the  charter  pre- 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

"  general  court,  or  assemblie,"  on  "  the  last  Wednesday  in  Easter 
Terme,  yearely,  for  the  yeare  ensuing." 

About  the  year  1633,  the  governor  and  assistants  began  to 
appoint  one  to  preach  on  the  day  of  election,  and  this  was  the  first 
of  our  "  Election  Sermons."  In  a  few  years,  the  deputies,  or  repre- 
sentatives, jealous  of  the  power  of  the  magistrates,  challenged  the 
appointment  as  theirs ;  and  the  magistrates,  unwilling  "  to  have  any 
fresh  occasion  of  contestation  with  the  deputies,"  yielded,  though 
some  judged  it  "  a  betraying,  or,  at  least,  weakening,  the  power  of 
the  magistrates,  and  a  countenancing  of  an  unjust  usurpation. 
For,"  says  Winthrop,  "  the  deputies  could  do  no  such  act,  as  an  act 
of  court,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  magistrates ;  and  out  of 
court  they  had  no  power  at  all,  but  only  for  regulating  their  own 
body  ;  and  it  was  resolved  and  voted  at  last  court,  according  to  the 
elders'"  —  ministers'  —  "  advice,  that  all  occurrents  "  —  orders  — 
"  out  of  court  belong  to  the  magistrates  to  take  care  of,  being  the 
standing  council  of  the  Commonwealth."  Such  were  the  trifles  which 
involved  the  popular  character  of  our  institutions.  The  occasion  was 
simple ;  the  principle  was  momentous.  So  it  was  when  Hampden 
refused  to  pay  twenty  shillings,  and  when  our  grandfathers  resisted 
the  Stamp  Act  and  tea  duty.  Governor  Winthrop's  critical  notice 
of  the  discourse  by  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  in  June 
1641,  is,  perhaps,  the  earliest  sketch  of  an  "  Election  Sermon"  now 
to  be  found.  It  appears  that  "  some  of  the  freemen,  without  the 
consent  of  the  magistrates  or  governor,  had  chosen  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Ward  to  preach  at  this  court,  pretending  that  it  was  a  part  of  their 
liberty.  The  governor  (whose  right,  indeed,  it  is,  —  for,  till  the 
court  be  assembled,  the  freemen   are   but  private  persons)  would 

supposes  the  residence  of  the  company  in  England,  and  the  transaction  of  all  its 
business  there."  The  removal  was  an  "usurpation  of  authority ;  "  but  of  its 
expediency  and  wisdom  there  can  be  no  doubt.  —  Story  on  the  Constitution,  1. 
§§  64,  65.  Winthrop  was  not,  de  jure,  governor,  as  were  Conant  and  Endecott. 
See  note  1,  p.  xi. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

not  strive  about  it ;  for,  though  it  did  not  belong  to  them,  yet,  if  they 
would  have  it,  there  was  reason  "  —  since  it  could  not  be  helped  — 
"  to  yield  it  to  them.  Yet  they  had  no  great  reason  to  choose  him, 
—  though  otherwise  very  able,  —  seeing  he  had  cast  off  his  pastor's 
place  at  Ipswich,  and  was  now  no  minister  by  the  received  deter- 
mination of  our  churches.  In  his  sermon  he  delivered  many  useful 
things,  but  in  a  moral  and  political  discourse,  grounding  his  propo- 
sitions much  upon  the  old  Roman  and  Grecian  governments,  which 
sure  is  an  error ;  for,  if  religion  and  the  word  of  God  make  men 
wiser  than  their  neighbors,  and  these  men  have  the  advantage  of  all 
that  have  gone  before  us  in  experience  and  observation,  it  is  proba- 
ble that,  by  all  these  helps,  v:e  may  better  frame  rules  of  government 
for  ourselves  than  to  receive  others  upon  the  bare  authority  of  the 
wisdom,  justice,  etc.,  of  those  heathen  commonwealths.  Among 
other  things,  he  advised  the  people  to  keep  all  their  magistrates  in  an 
equal  rank,  and  not  give  more  honor  or  power  to  one  than  to  another, 
which  is  easier  to  advise  than  to  prove,  seeing  it  is  against  the  prac- 
tice of  Israel  (where  some  were  rulers  of  thousands,  and  some  but 
of  tens),  and  of  all  nations  known  or  recorded.  Another  advice 
he  gave,  that  magistrates  should  not  give  private  advice,  and  take 
knowledge  of  any  man's  cause  before  it  came  to  public  hearing. 
This  icas  debated  after  in  the  general  court,  where  some  of  the  deputies 
moved  to  have  it  ordered  "  and  enacted  into  a  law. 

By  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary,  October  7th,  1691,  the  last 
Wednesday  of  ^lay  was  established  as  election-day,  and  it  remained 
so  till  the  Revolution.  The  important  part  which  this  institution  of 
the  Election  Sermon  played  at  that  period,  and  an  account  of  its 
observance,  are  minutely  and  accurately  presented  by  the  Rev. 
William  Gordon,  of  Roxbury,  the  contemporary  historian  of  the 
Revolution,  and  in  a  manner  so  pertinent  to  our  purpose  that  we 
give  it  entire. 

He  says  that  the  "  ministers  of  New  England,  being  mostly  Con- 

3 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

gregatlonalists,  are,  from  that  circumstance,  in  a  professional  way, 
more  attached  and  habituated  to  the  principles  of  liberty  than  if 
they  had  spiritual  superiors  to  lord  it  over  them,  and  were  in  hopes 
of  possessing,  in  their  turn,  through  the  gift  of  government,  the  seat 
of  power.  They  oppose  arbitrary  rule  in  civil  concerns  from  the 
love  of  freedom,  as  well  as  from  a  desire  of  guarding  against  its 
introduction  into  religious  matters.  The  patriots,  for  years  back, 
have  availed  themselves  greatly  of  their  assistance.  Two  sermons 
have  been  preached  annually  for  a  length  of  time,  the  one  on  gen- 
eral election-day,  the  last  AVednesday  in  May,  when  the  new  general 
court  have  been  used  to  meet,  according  to  charter,  and  elect  coun- 
sellors for  the  ensuing  year ;  the  other,  some  little  while  after,  on  the 
artillery  election-day,  when  the  officers  are  reelected,  or  new  officers 
chosen.  On  these  occasions  political  subjects  are  deemed  very 
proper  ;  but  it  is  expected  that  they  be  treated  in  a  decent,  serious, 
and  instructive  manner.  The  general  election  preacher  has  been 
elected  alternately  by  the  council  and  House  of  Assembly.  The 
sermon  is  styled  the  Election  Sermon^  and  is  printed.  Every  repre- 
sentative has  a  copy  for  himself,  and  generally  one  or  more  for  the 
minister  or  ministers  of  his  town.  As  the  patriots  have  prevailed, 
the  preachers  of  each  sermon  have  been  the  zealous  friends  of  lib- 
erty ;  and  the  passages  most  adapted  to  promote  the  spread  and 
love  of  it  have  been  selected  and  circulated  far  and  wide  by  means 
of  newspapers,  and  read  with  avidity  and  a  degree  of  veneration 
on  account  of  the  preacher  and  his  election  to  the  service  of  the 
day.  .Commendations,  both  public  and  private,  have  not  been 
wanting  to  help  on  the  design.  Thus,  by  their  labors  in  the  pulpit, 
and  by  furnishing  the  prints  with  occasional  essays,  the  ministers 
have  forwarded  and  strengthened,  and  that  not  a  little,  the  oppo- 
sition to  the  exercise  of  that  parliamentary  claim  of  right  to  bind 
the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatever." 

Protestantism  exchanged  the  altar  for  the  pulpit,  the  missal  for 


INTRODUCTION.  XXVII 

the  Bible  ;  the  "  priest "  gave  way  to  the  "  preacher,"  and  the  gos- 
pel was  "  preached."  The  ministers  were  now  to  instruct  the  people, 
to  reason  before  them  and  with  them,  to  appeal  to  them ;  and  so, 
by  their  very  position  and  relation,  the  people  were  constituted  the 
judges.  They  were  called  upon  to  decide  ;  they  also  reasoned  ;  and 
in  this  way  —  as  the  conflicts  in  the  church  respected  polity  rather 
than  doctrine  —  the  Puritans,  and  especially  the  New  Englanders, 
had,  from  the  very  beginning,  been  educated  in  the  consideration  of 
its  elementary  principles.  In  this  we  discover  how  it  was,  as  Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson  remarked,  that  "  men  took  sides  in  New  England 
upon  mere  speculative  points  in  government,  when  there  was  noth- 
ing in  practice  which  could  give  any  grounds  for  forming  parties." 
This  was  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  opening  of  the  Revolutionary 
war.  It  was  recognized  by  Edmund  Burke,  in  his  speech  of  March 
22d,  1775,  "on  conciliation  with  the  colonies."  "Permit  me,  sir," 
he  said,  "  to  add  another  circumstance  in  our  colonies,  which  contrib- 
utes no  mean  part  towards  the  growth  and  effect  of  this  untractable 
spirit,  —  /  mean  their  education.  In  no  country  in  the  world,  per- 
haps, is  the  law  so  general  a  study.  The  profession  itself  is  numer- 
ous and  powerful,  and  in  most  provinces  it  takes  the  lead.  The 
greater  number  of  the  deputies  sent  to  the  congress"  —  at  Philadel- 
phia —  "  were  lawyers.  But  all  who  read  —  and  most  do  read  — 
endeavor  to  obtain  some  smattering  in  that  science.  I  have  been 
told  by  an  eminent  bookseller,  that  in  no  branch  of  his  business, 
after  tracts  of  popular  devotion,  were  so  many  books  as  those  on 
the  law  exported  to  the  plantations.  The  colonists  have  now  fallen 
into  the  way  of  printing  them  for  their  own  use.  I  hear  that  they 
have  sold  nearly  as  many  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  in  America 
as  in  England.  General  Gage  marks  out  this  disposition  very  par- 
ticularly in  a  letter  on  your  table.  He  states  that  all  the  jyeople  in 
his  government  are  laicyers,  or  smatterers  in  law ;  and  that  in  Boston 
they  have  been  enabled,  by  successful  chicane,  wholly  to  evade 


XXYIII  INTRODUCTION. 

many  parts  of  your  capital  penal  constitutions.  .  .  .  Aheunt 
studia  in  mores.  This  study  renders  men  acute,  inquisitive,  dexter- 
ous, prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence,  full  of  resources.  In  other 
countries,  the  people,  more  simple,  and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast, 
judge  of  an  ill  principle  in  government  only  by  an  actual  grievance  ; 
here," — in  the  colonies — "they  anticipate  the  evil,  and  judge  of  the 
pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the  badness  of  the  principle.  They 
augur  misgovernment  at  a  distance,  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyr- 
anny in  every  tainted  breeze." 

Mr.  Webster  studied  this  phase  of  our  history.  He  says  our 
fathers  "  went  to  war  against  a  preamble  ;  they  fought  seven  years 
against  a  declaration ;  "  that  "  we  are  not  to  wait  till  great  public 
mischiefs  come,  till  the  government  is  overthrown,  or  liberty  itself 
put  in  extreme  jeopardy.  We  should  not  be  worthy  sons  of  our 
fathers  were  we  so  to  regard  great  questions  affecting  the  general 
freedom.  Those  fathers  accomplished  the  Revolution  on  a  strict  ques- 
tion of  principle.  The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  asserted  a  right 
to  tax  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever ;  and  it  was  precisely  on 
this  question  that  they  made  the  Revolution  turn.  The  amount  of 
taxation  was  trifling,  but  the  claim  itself  was  inconsistent  with  lib- 
erty ;  and  that  was,  in  their  eyes,  enough.  It  was  against  the  recital 
of  an  act  of  Parliament,  rather  than  against  any  suffering  under  its 

enactments,  that  they  took  up  arms They  poured  out 

their  treasures  and  their  blood  like  water,  in  a  contest  in  opposition 
to  an  assertion,  which  those  less  sagacious,  and  not  so  well  schooled 
in  the  principles  of  civil  liberty,  would  have  regarded  as  barren 
phraseology,  or  mere  parade  of  words. 

"  They  saw  in  the  claim  of  the  British  Parliament  a  seminal 
principle  of  mischief,  the  germ  of  unjust  power ;  they  detected  it, 
dragged  it  forth  from  underneath  its  plausible  disguises,  struck  at 
it;  nor  did  it  elude  either  their  steady  eye  or  their  well-directed 
blow   till    they   had   extirpated    and   destroyed   it   to   the   smallest 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIX 

fibre.  On  this  question  of  principle,  -while  actual  suffering  was  yet 
afar  off,  they  raised  their  flag  against  a  power  to  which,  for  purposes 
of  foreign  conquest  and  subjugation,  Eome,  in  the  height  of  her 
glory,  is  not  to  be  compared  ;  a  power  which  has  dotted  over  the 
surface  of  the  whole  globe  with  her  possessions  and  military  posts ; 
whose  morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun  and  keeping  company 
with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  daily  with  one  continuous  and 
unbroken  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England."  It  is  in  this  habit- 
ual study  of  political  ethics,  of  "  the  liberty  of  the  gospel,"  —  perhaps 
the  principal  feature  in  New  England  history,  —  that  we  discern  the 
source  of  that  earnestness  which  consciousness  of  right  begets,  and 
of  those  appeals  to  principle  which  distinguished  the  colonies,  and 
which  they  were  ever  ready  to  vindicate  with  life  and  fortune.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact,  in  this  connection,  that  the  very  able  and 
learned  defence  of  the  ecclesiastical  polity  of  Xew  England,  written 
by  the  Eev.  John  Wise,  of  Ipswich,  one  of  the  victims  of  the  des- 
potism of  the  infamous  Andros,  in  1687,  was  republished  in  the 
year  1772,  as  a  sound  political  document  for  the  times,  teaching 
that  "  Democracy  is  Christ's  government  in  Church  and  in  State." 
Thus  the  church  polity  of  Xew  England  begat  like  principles  in 
the  state.  The  pew  and  the  pulpit  had  been  educated  to  self-gov- 
ernment. They  were  accustomed  "  to  consider."  The  highest 
glory  of  the  American  Revolution,  said  John  Quincy  Adams,  was 
this  :  it  connected^  in  one  indissoluble  bond,  the  principles  of  civil  gov- 
ernment with  the  principles  of  Ch-istianity. 

"With  these  antecedents  of  history  and  principle,  it  is  apparent 
that  nothing  could  be  more  revolting  to  the  heart  and  head  of 
Xew  England  than  the  idea  of  a  bishopric  within  her  borders ; 
and  the  rumor  of  such  a  project  excited  general  alarm,  and 
deepened  the  old  loathing.  Lord  Chatham,  in  his  celebrated  letter 
to  the  king,    wi'ote  :  '•  They   left  their  native   land   in   search   of 

freedom,  and   found  it  in  a  desert.     Divided  as  they  are  into  a 

3* 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

thousand  forms  of  policy  and  religion,  there  is  one  point  in  winch 
they  all  agree :  they  equally  detest  the  pageantry  of  a  king,  and 
the  supercilious  hypocrisy  of  a  bishop."  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis,  of 
London,  wrote  to  E,ev.  Doctor  Mayhew,  of  Boston,  in  the  year 
1763  :  "You  are  in  no  real  danger  at  present  in  respect  to  the 
creation  of  bishops  in  America,  if  I  am  rightly  Informed,  though  a 
matter  extremely  desired  by  our  clergy  and  prelates,  and  even 
talked  of  greatly  at  this  time  among  themselves.  You  cannot, 
however,  be  too  much  on  your  guard  on  this  so  very  Important  an 
affair."  Seeker,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  connived  at 
the  sending  of  a  popish  bishop  to  Quebec;  and  this  exposed  to  full 
view  the  dishonesty,  the  utter  recklessness  of  principle,  and  the 
popish  sympathies,  which  then  distinguished  the  government  of 
England. 

The  pulpit  and  the  press  were  alive  to  the  danger,  and  this  alarm 
was  but  Initiatory  to  the  coming  contest  against  civil  wrong.  They 
detected  the  same  foe  under  the  mitre  and  the  gown.  "  If  Parlia- 
ment could  tax  us,  they  could  establish  the  Church  of  England, 
with  all  Its  creeds,  articles,  tests,  ceremonies,  and  tithes,  and  pro- 
hibit all  other  churches,  as  conventicles  and  schism-shops."  ^ 

A  contemporary  print,  entitled  "  An  Attempt  to  land  a  Bishop  in 
America,"  gives  the  pressure  of  the  times.  The  scene  is  at  the 
wharf.  Exclamations  from  the  colonists,  "  No  lords,  spiritual  or 
temporal,  in  New  England!"  "Shall  they  be  obliged  to  maintain 
bishops  who  cannot  maintain  themselves  !"  salute  the  bishop's  cars. 
On  a  banner,  surmounted  by  a  liberty-cap,  is  "  Liberty  and  Free- 
dom of  Conscience  ;  "  and  "  Locke,"  "  Sydney  on  Government," 
"  Calvin's  Works,"  and  "  Barclay's  Apology,"  bless  his  eyes !  The 
ship  Is  shoved  off  shore ;  on  the  deck  is  the  bishop's  carriage,  the 
wheels  off;  the  crosier  and  mitre  hang  in  the  rigging;  and  the 
"  saint  in  lawn,"  with  his  gown  floating  ir  the  breeze,  has  mounted 

1  John  Adams's  Works,  x.  287,  288.     - 


r/.    r 


//  '    /f/r /?////  /^^  /^//u/, 


i/  J 


c 


a   f  yr- >/?/"// ^/f  ^S  ////r^/r^/ 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXI 

the  shrouds  halfway  to  the  mast-head,  and  ejaculates,  "  Lord,  now 
Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace ! "  ^ 

The  unanimity  and  efficient  service  of  the  Puritan  clergy  in 
the  war  of  the  Kevolution,  and  the  zeal  of  the  Episcopal  ministers 
and  "missionaries"  in  their  hostility  to  it,  —  in  perfect  consistency 
with  their  spirit  and  principles,  as  exhibited  by  Dr.  Mayhew,  in 
1750,  in  his  discoui-se  on  King  Charles's  "  Saintship  and  Mart}T- 
dom,"  —  are  stated  with  almost  statistical  accuracy  in  a  letter  from 
Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  October 
31,  1776.  The  writer  was  an  Oxford  D.  D.,  and  a  missionary  "  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  He  was  rewarded  by 
a  bishopric  in  Xova  Scotia,  none  being  attainable  in  the  other 
colonies,  except  in  Canada,  where  the  preference  of  the  government 
was  for  one  direct  from  Rome.  He  states  "  that  all  the  Society's 
missionaries,  .  .  .  and  all  the  other  clergy  of  our  church, 
.  .  .  have,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  opposed  the  spirit  of 
disaffection ;  .  .  .  .  and,  although  their  joint  endeavors  could 
not  wholly  prevent  the  rebellion,  yet  they  checked  it  considerably 
for  some  time,  and  prevented  many  thousands  from  plunging  into 

it,  who  otherwise  would  certainly  have  done  so In 

their  sermons    they  confined   themselves  to   the   doctrines  of  the 
gospel"  —  as    lioiior    the    king  —  "without    touching   on    politics.^ 

1  For  the  use  of  this  plate,  reengraved  from  the  Political  Register  of  17G9,  for 
Mr.  Frothiugham's  History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston,  grateful  acknowledgment  is 
made  to  that  gentleman. 

2  "  Without  touching  on  politics"!  The  honesty  of  this  Rev.  Dr.  is  trans- 
parent. His  letter  is  wholly  a  boast  of  the  iwlitical  fidelity  and  services  of  the 
Episcopal  clergy.  The  spirit  of  this  "  gospel  "  can  be  understood  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester's,  eulogy  on  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  1779,  which 
concludes  that,  "  as  to  the  behaviour  of  the  Popish  Priests  of  Canada,  would  to 
God  that  those  who  call  themselves  the  Protestant  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of 
Peace  in  New  England  had  behaved  half  as  well"!  Could  the  Crown  have 
flooded  the  country  with  its  clergy  of  Oxford,  or  Rome,  and  "  gospel  ■'  of  abso- 
lute obedience,  and  have  silenced  the  Puritan  clergy,  who.  with  apostolic  fidelity, 
•'  shunned  not  to  declare  unto  you  all  the  counsel  of  God,"  every  '•  seditious''  or 
''rebellious"'  aspiration, would  have  been  hushed  into  the  silence  of  t—  death. 


XXXII  INTRODUCTION. 

.  Altl^pugh  liberty  was  the  ostensible  object,  ...  It 
Is  now  past  all  doubt  that  an  abolition  of  the  Church  of  England 
was  one  of  the  principal  springs  of  the  dissenting  leaders'  conduct, 
and  hence  the  unanimity  of  the  dissenters.  .  .  .  Nor  have  I. 
been  able,  after  strict  Inquiry,  to  hear  of  any  who  did  not,  by 
preaching,  and  every  effort  in  their  power,  promote  all  the  measures 
of  the  Congress,  however  extravagant.  ...  I  have  not  a  doubt 
but  ...  his  Majesty's  arms  will  be  successful.  ...  In 
that  case.  If  the  steps  are  taken  which  reason,  prudence,  and 
common  sense  dictate,"  —  lords  spiritual,  tithes,  etc.,  —  "  the 
church  win  Indubitably  Increase.  .  .  .  The  dissenters  will 
ever  clamor  against  anything  that  will  tend  to  benefit  or  Increase 
the  church  "  —  hierarchy  —  "  here.  The  present  rebellion  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  causeless,  unprovoked,  and  unnatural,  that 
ever  disgraced  any  country  ;  a  rebellion  with  peculiarly  aggravated 
circumstances  of  guilt  and  Ingratitude."  ^ 

The  religious  character  and  views  of  the  founders  of  New 
England  also  appear  In  bold  relief  In  the  foundation  of  the 
venerable  seat  of  learning  at  Cambridge.  "  Christo  et  Eccle- 
si^"  heads  the  ancient  seal  of  Harvard  College,  and  the  church 
was  the  colony.  On  the  long  roll  of  the  benefactors  of  Harvard, 
the  name  of  Hollis^  must  ever  stand  preeminent  In  the  regard 
of  the  whole  country.  In  the  year  1766,  Thomas  Hollis^  wrote 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew,  "  More  books,  especially  on  government^ 
are  going  for  New  England.  Should  those  go  safe,  It  is  hoped  that 
no  principal  books  on  that  first  subject  will  be  wanting  in  Har- 

1  Copied  from  "  Hawkins's  Missions"  into  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  1860, 
p.  311. 

2  For  an  account  of  this  distinguished  Baptist  family,  see  President  Quincy's 
History  of  Harvard  College,  index. 

3  He  caused  the  reprint  and  circulation  in  England  of  James  Otis's  "  Rights 
of  the  British  Colonies  Asserted  and  Proved,"  John  Adams's  "Dissertation  on 
the  Canon  and  Feudal  Law,"  and  Dr.  Mayhew's  writings.  Allibone's  "Dic- 
tionary of  Authors"  has  an  ample  notice  of  him. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXIII 

vard  College,  from  the  days  of  ISloses  to  these  times.  Men  of  New 
England,  brethren,  use  them  for  yourselves,  and  for  others ;  and 
God  bless  you  !  "  And  again  :  "  I  confess  to  bear  propensity,  affec- 
tion, towards  the  people  of  North  America,  those  of  Massachusetts 
and  Boston  in  particular,  believing  them  to  be  a  good  and  brave 
people.  Long  may  they  continue  such !  and  the  spirit  of  luxury, 
now  consuming  us  to  the  very  marrow  here  at  home,  kept  out 
from  them!  One  likeliest  means  to  that  end  will  be,  to  watch 
well  over  their  youth,  by  bestowing  on  them  a  reasonable,  manly 
education  ;  and  selecting  thereto  the  wisest,  ablest,  most  accom- 
plished of  men  that  art  or  wealth  can  obtain  ;  for  nations  rise  and 
fall  by  individuals,  not  numbers,  as  I  think  all  history  proveth. 
AVith  ideas  of  this  kind  have  I  worked  for  the  public  library  at 
Cambridge,  in  New  England." 

An  eloquent  writer,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  those 
days,  remarks,  that  "  this  truly  ingenuous  Englishman,  in  the  range 
and  direction  of  his  literary  beneficence,  effectually  refuted  the 
seeming  paradox,  that  a  loyal  subject  of  the  monarchy  in  Britain 
might  be  an  ardent  and  intelligent  friend  of  the  cause  of  free- 
dom in  America.  The  books  he  sent  were  often  political,  and 
of  a  republican  stamp.  And  it  remains  for  the  perspicacity  of  our 
historians  to  ascertain  what  influence  his  benefactions  and  cor- 
respondence had  in  kindling  that  spirit  which  emancipated  these 
States  from  the  shackles  of  colonial  subserviency,  by  forming  '  high- 
minded  men,'  who,  under  Providence,  achieved  our  independence. 

"  Doubtless  at  the  favored  Seminary  her  sons  drank  deeply  of 
the  writings  of  Miltox,  Harrington,  Sydney,  Ludlow,  Mar- 
yell,  and    LocKE.^     These  were    there,   by   Mr.    Hollis's  exer- 

1  In  1775,  Dr.  Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester,  announced  as  '•  preparing  for  the 
press,  An  expostulatory  Letter,  addressed  to  the  Ministers  of  the  several  De- 
nominations of  Protestants  in  North  America,  occasioned  by  their  preferring  and 
inculcating  principles  of  Mr.  Lock,  instead  of  those  of  the  Gospel,  relative  to  the 
original  titles  of  civil  governors." 


XXXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

tions,  political  text-books.     And  the   eminent  men   of  that   day 

■were  — 

'  By  antieut  learning  to  the  enlightened  love 

Of  antieut  freedom  warmed.'  "1 

President  Stiles,  of  Yale  College,  said,  in  1 783 :  "  The  colleges 
have  been  of  singular  advantage  in  the  present  day.  When 
Britain  withdrew  all  of  her  wisdom  from  America,  this  Revolution 
found  above  two  thousand  in  New  England  only,  who  had  been 
educated  in  the  colonies,  intermixed  among  the  people,  and  com- 
municating knowledge  among  them." 

In  Dr.  Franklin's  library  were  Locke,  Hoadley,  Sydney,  Montes- 
quieu, Priestley,  Milton,  Price,  Gordon's  Tacitus ;  and  in  a  picture 
of  John  Hancock,  published  in  1780,  are  introduced  portraits  of 
Hampden,  Cromwell,  and  Sydney.  There  are  extant  American 
reprints  of  these  authors,  or  of  portions  of  their  works,  issued  prior 
to  and  during  the  Revolution,  in  a  cheap  form,  for  popular  circu- 
lation, addressing,  not  passion,  but  reason,  dlifuslng  sound  principles, 
and  begetting  right  feeling.  There  could  hardly  be  found  a  more 
impressive,  though  silent,  proof  of  the  exalted  nature  of  the  contest 
on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  than  a  complete  collection  of  their 
publications  of  that  period. 

Who  can  limit  the  influences  exerted  over  the  common  mind 
by  these  volumes  of  silent  thought,  eloquent  for  the  rights  of  man 
and  the  blessings  of  liberty,  fervid  against  wrong,  the  miseries  of 
oppression  and  slavery,  —  teaching  that  resistance  to  tyrants  is 
obedience  to  God  ?  Who  can  doubt  from  what  fountains  he  drank 
who  dedicated  "  to  all  the  patrons  of  real,  perfect,  and  unpolluted 
liberty,  civil  and  religious,  throughout  the  world,"  his  history  of 
Whallcy,  Goffe,  and  Dixwell,  "  three  of  Its  most  Illustrious  and 
heroic,  but  unfortunate   defenders"  ?      These  books  and   libraries 

1  Rev.  Dr.  William  Jenks's  Eulogy  on  Bowdoin,  Sept.  2d,  1812. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXV 

were  the  nurseries  of  "  sedition ; "  they  were  as  secret  emissaries 
propagating  in  every  household,  in  every  breast,  at  morning,  in  the 
noonday  rest,  by  the  evening  light,  in  the  pulpit,  the  forum,  and  the 
shop,  principles,  convictions,  resolves,  which  sophistry  could  not 
overthrow,  nor  force  extinguish.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  strength 
of  our  fathers.  Let  us  cherish  it  as  worthy  sons  of  noble  sires.  One 
yet  among  us,  whose  first  inspiration  was  of  the  air  breathed  by  the 
sons  of  hberty,  whose  patriot  father's  laurels  are  green  around  his 
own  brow,^  has  given  a  lively  picture  of  the  reverential  regard  for 
the  clergy  at  the  period  of  the  Revolution. 

"  The  whole  space  before  the  meeting-house  was  filled  with  a 
waiting,  respectful,  and  expecting  multitude.  At  the  moment  of 
service,  the  pastor  issued  from  his  mansion,  with  Bible  and  man- 
uscript sermon  under  his  arm,  with  his  wife  leaning  on  one  arm, 
flanked  by  his  negro  man  on  his  side,  as  his  wife  was  by  her  negro 
woman,  the  little  negroes  being  distributed,  according  to  their  sex, 
by  the  side  of  their  respective  parents.  Then  followed  every  other 
member  of  the  family,  according  to  age  and  rank,  making  often, 
with  family  visitants,  somewhat  of  a  formidable  procession.  As  soon 
as  it  appeared,  the  congregation,  as  if  moved  by  one  spirit,  began  to 
move  towards  the  door  of  the  church ;  and,  before  the  procession 
reached  it,  all  were  in  their  places.     As  soon  as  the  pastor  entered 

1  Hon.  Josiali  Quincy's  sketch  of  Rev.  Jonathan  French,  of  Andover,  in 
Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  vol.  ii.  p.  48.  It  is  of  singular  inter- 
est to  refer  to  the  following  affectionate  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the 
noblest  patriots,  coupled  as  it  is  with  a  prayer  for  his  only  son,  whose  living 
presence  among  us  is  its  answer.  The  passage  is  in  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Gordon,  of  Roxbury,  dated  April  26th,  1775.  He  says:  "  My  friend  Quincy 
has  sacrificed  his  life  for  the  sake  of  his  country.  The  ship  in  which  he  sailed 
arrived  at  Cape  Anne  within  these  two  days;  but  he  lived  not  to  get  on  shore,  or 
to  hear  and  triumph  at  the  account  of  the  success  of  the  Lexington  engagement. 
His  remains  will  be  honorably  interred  by  his  relations.  Let  him  be  numbered 
with  the  patriotic  heroes  who  fall  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  and  let  his  memory 
be  dear  to  posterity.  Let  Ms  only  surviving  child.,  a  son  of  about  three  years, 
live  to  possess  his  noble  virtues,  and  to  transmit  his  name  down  to  future  gener- 
ations.^^ 


XXXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

the  church  the  whole  congregation  rose,  and  stood  until  the  pastor 
was  in  the  pulpit  and  his  family  were  seated,  —  until  which  was 
done,  the  whole  assembly  continued  standing.  At  the  close  of  the 
service,  the  congregation  stood  until  he  and  his  family  had  left  the 
church,  before  any  one  moved  towards  the  door.  Forenoon  and 
afternoon  the  same  course  of  proceeding  was  had,  expressive  of  the 
reverential  relation  in  which  the  people  acknowledged  that  they 
stood  towards  their  clergymen."  But  this  was  not  "  obedience ; "  for 
there  was  no  "  authority,"  and  no  wish  for  it.  The  idea  was  foreign 
to  New  England ;  for  resistance  to  it  was  the  proximate  cause  of 
her  colonization.  It  was  a  nobler,  voluntary  offering  of  respect, 
—  the  decorum  of  the  times.  Such  are  the  history,  principles, 
education,  position,  and  influence  of  the  clergy,  except  the  few,  of 
foreign  sympathy,  and  alien  to  the  Commonwealth,  who,  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  war, 

*'  Left  their  country  for  their  country's  good  ;  " 

and  with  what  spirit,  with  what  wisdom,  with  what  learning  and 
power  they  preached  the  liberty  of  the  gospel,  let  these  pages  — 
their  own  words  —  bear  witness.  The  story  of  their  passive  endur- 
ance, their  personal  bravery  and  manly  participation  in  their 
country's  service  in  the  years  of  her  deepest  misery,  belongs  not 
here  ;  they  yet  wait  for  justice  from  the  historian.  "VVe  have  room 
for  only  one  or  two  illustrations.  In  Danvers,  the  deacon  of  the 
parish  was  elected  captain  of  the  minute-men,  and  the  minister  his 
lieutenant.  The  company,  after  its  field  exercise,  would  sometimes 
repair  to  the  meeting-house  to  hear  a  patriotic  sermon,  or  partake 
of  an  entertainment  at  the  town-house,  where  the  zealous  sons  of 
liberty  would  exhort  them  to  fight  bravely  for  God  and  their  coun- 
try. At  Lunenburg,  the  minute  company,  after  going  through  sev- 
eral military  manoeuvres,  marched  to  a  public  house,  where  the 
officers  had  provided  an  elegant  entertainment  for  the  company, 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXVII 

a  number  of  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and  patriotic 
ministers  of  the  towns  adjacent.  They  then  marched  in  military 
procession  to  the  meeting-house,  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Adams  deliv- 
ered an  excellent  sermon,  suitable  to  the  occasion,  from  Psalm 
xxvii.  3.  Mr.  Frothingham,  from  whose  excellent  history  of  the 
siege  of  Boston  these  instances  are  taken,  says  that  the  journals  of 
the  period  abound  in  paragraphs  of  similar  interest. 

In  1774,  when  the  whole  country  was  in  misery,  in  the  travail 
which  preceded  the  birth  of  the  nation,  the  First  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  Massachusetts  acknowledged  with  profound  gratitude  the 
public  obligation  to  the  ministry,  as  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  invoked  their  aid,  in  the  following  address  : 

"  Reverend  Sirs  :  —  When  we  contemplate  the  friendship  and 
assistance  our  ancestors,  the  first  settlers  of  this  province  (while 
overwhelmed  with  distress),  received  from  the  pious  pastors  of  the 
churches  of  Christ,  who,  to*enjoy  the  rights  of  conscience,  fled  with 
them  into  this  land,  then  a  savage  wilderness,  we  find  ourselves 
filled  with  the  most  grateful  sensations.  And  we  cannot  but  ac- 
knowledge the  goodness  of  Heaven  in  constantly  supplying  us  with 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  whose  concern  has  been  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  happiness  of  this  people. 

"  In  a  day  Hke  this,  when  all  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  are  exerting  themselves  to  deliver  this  country  from  its  pres- 
ent calamities,  we  cannot  but  place  great  hopes  in  an  order  of  men 
who  have  ever  distinguished  themselves  in  their  country's  cause ; 
and  do,  therefore,  recommend  to  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  the 
several  towns  and  other  places  in  the  colony,  that  they  assist  us  in 
avoiding  that  dreadful  slavery  with  which  we  are  now  threatened, 
by  advising  the  people  of  their  several  congregations,  as  they  wish 
their  prosperity,  to  abide  by,  and  strictly  adhere  to,  the  resolutions 
of  the  Continental  Congress,"  at  Philadelphia,  in  October,  1774,  "  as 

the  most  peaceable  and  probable  method  of  preventing  confusion 

4 


XXXVIII  INTRODUCTION. 

and  bloodshed,  and  of  restoring  that  harmony  between  Great  Britain 
and  these  colonies,  on  which  we  wish  might  be  established  not  only 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  America,  but  the  opulence  and  lasting 
happiness  of  the  whole  British  empire. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  address  be  presented  to  all  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  in  the  province." 

Thus  it  is  manifest,  in  the  spirit  of  our  history,  in  our  annals,  and 
by  the  general  voice  of  the  fathers  of  the  republic,  that,  in  a  very 
great  degree, — 

To  THE  Pulpit,   the   PURITAN  PULPIT,  we  owe  the 

MORAL   FORCE   WHICH   WON   OUR   INDEPENDENCE. 

J.  W.  T. 

Boston,  October,  1860. 


DISCOURSE 

CONCERNING 

Unlimited    Submiffion 

AND 

Non-Reliftance 

TO     THE 

Higher  Powers: 

With   fome    Reflections    on   the    Resistance   made    to 

King    Charles    I. 

And     on     the 

Anniversary  of  his  Death: 

In    which    the    mysterious     Do6lrine    of    that    Prince's 
Saintfhip    and    Martyrdom    is    unriddled  : 

The  Subftance  of  which  was  delivered  in  a  Sermon  preached  in 
the  Weft  Meeting- Houfe  in  Eofton  the  Lord's-Day  after  the 
30th  of  January^   i749  |  5o- 

Publijhed     at     the     Requeft    of    the    Hearers. 

By  Jonathan  Mayhew,  A.  M. 

Paftor    of    the    Weft     Church    in     Bofton. 

Fear   GOD,   honour   the   King.  Saint    Paul. 

He  that  ruleth  onjer  Men,  muft  be  juft,  ruling  in  the  Fear  of  GOD. 

Prophet  Samuel. 
/  ha--ue  faid,  ye  are  Gods — but  ye  fhall  die  like  Men,  and  fall  like 
one  of  the  PRINCES.  King  David. 

Quid    memorem    infandas    csedes  ?     quid  fafta  TYRANNI 
Eff"era  ?     Dii    CAPITI  ipfius  GENERIQUE    refervent— 
Necnon    Threicius    longa   cum   <vefte   S  ACER  DOS 
Obloquitur Rom.   Vat.   Prin. 

BOSTON,  Printed  and  Sold  by  D.  Fowle  in  Queen-ftreet  ; 
and  by  D.  GooKiN  over  againft  the  South  Meeting- Houfe.     1750. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


This  celebrated  discourse  was  delivered  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
death  of  the  tyrant  Charles  I.  of  England,  which,  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  courtiers,  on  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy,  was,  by  the- 
"  Supreme  Governor  of  the  Church,"  made  a  national  fast,  and  the 
tyrant  canonized  as  one  of  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs."  After  enjoy- 
ing the  nobility  of  martyrdom  for  about  two  centuries,  the  tyrant's 
name  has,  by  Act  of  Parliament,  1859,  been  quietly  expunged  from  the 
prayer-book,  this  holy-day  of  "The  Christian  Year"  abolished;  and 
thus  the  "  martyr,"  and  whole  reams  of  partisan  rhetoric,  rhapsodies, 
and  poetry,  are  left  among  the  other  follies  of  the  past.  The  church 
could  no  longer  bear  the  reproach.  "Let  his  memory,  0  Lord,  be 
ever  blessed  among  us,"  could  no  longer  be  uttered  with  solemn  mockery 
at  the  altar. 

The  anniversary  has  been  observed  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  hero 
and  his  admirers.  By  authority,  the  minister  was  compelled  on  that 
day  to  read  the  Oxford  homily  "  against  disobedience  and  wilful 
rebellion,  or  preach  a  sermon  of  his  own  composing  upon  the  same 
argument " !  One  example  of  their  impious  utterances  will  sutfice. 
It  is  the  title  of  one  of  their  sermons:  "A  true  Parallel  betwixt  the 
Sufferings  of  our  Saviour  and  our  Sovereign  in  divers  particulars." 
Another  of  these  reverend  blasphemers ,  preaching  before  a  convocation 
of  the  church  in  1701,  said:  "  One  would  imagine  that  they  were  resolved 
to  take  St.  Paul's  expression  in  the  most  literal  sense  the  words  will 
bear,  and  crucify  to  themselves  the  Lord  afresh,  and,  in  the  nearest 
likeness  that  could  be,  put  him  to  an  open  shame.  If,  with  respect 
to  the  dignity  of  the  person,  to  have  been  born  King  of  the  Jews 
was  what  ought  to  have  screened  our  Saviour  from  violence,  here  is 
also    one    not   only   born    to  a  crown,  but    actually  possessed    of  it; 

4* 


42 


he  was  not   just   dressed    up   for    an  hour  or  two  in 

purple   robes,   and    saluted  with  a  '  Hail,   king,' In 

respect  only  of  their  being  heated  to  the  degree  of  frenzy  and  madness, 
the  plea  in  my  text  may  seem  to  have  some  hold  of  them.  'Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  "  Such  were  the  usual 
"  church "  oracles  on  this  Fast-day.  "  Among  his  own  partisans,'^ 
says  Godwin,  "the  death  of  Charles  was  treated,  and  was  spoken  of, 
as  a  sort  of  deicide."  Clarendon  gave  the  key-note :  "  The  most  execrable 
murder  ever  committed  since  that  of  our  blessed  Saviour  " !  The  servile 
and  degrading  tenet  of  absolute  obedience  was  taught;  and  why  should 
it  not  be,  since  the  University  of  Oxford  declared  ^'submission  and  obedi- 
ence, clear,  absolute,  and  without  exception,  to  be  the  badge  and  character 
of  the  Church  of  England."  Hallam  says  that  the  high  tory  principles 
of  the  Anglican  clergy,  of  absolute  non-resistance,  had  nearly  proved 
destructive  of  the  whole  constitution.  "  It  was  the  tenet  of  their  homilies, 
their  canons,  their  most  distinguished  divines  and  casuists.  .  .  .  We 
can  frame  no  adequate  conception  of  the  jeopardy  in  which  our  liberties 
stood  under  the  Stuarts,  especially  in  this  particular  period,  Avithout 
attending  to  this  spirit  of  servility  which  had  been  so  sedulously 
excited." 

It  was  ever  a  darling  project  with  these  worthies  to  establish  American 
bishoprics.  The  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts," 
established  in  1701,  as  it  was  administered  by  its  clerical  managers, 
seemed  to  be  rather  a  society  for  propagating  the  hierarchy,  especially 
in  New  England.  Archbishop  Tenison,  its  first  president,  dying  in  1715, 
bequeathed  to  it  £1000  towards  maintaining  the  first  bishop  who  should 
be  settled  in  America,  and  Archbishop  Seeker  left  another  £1000  for 
the  same  purpose. 

The  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts " 
seemed,  to  intelligent  men  in  New  England,  to  be  a  mere  disguise  for 
introducing  prelacy  i  —  "  lords  spiritual "  —  into  the  land,  and  it  was 


1  We  find  a  notice  of  the  society,  at  this  day,  by  an  English  corrospoudent 
of  The  Independent,  May  24,  1860,  who  says  that  it  "  enjoys  the  patronage 
of  the  High-Church  dignitaries,  and  has  a  large  income,  say  $600,000,  annu- 
ally. It  has  three  hundred  missionaries,  supplemented  by  schoolmasters, 
catechists,  and  Scripture-readers.  It  is  an  affecting  fact,  that  this  old  and  strong 
society  for  the  '  propagation  of  the  gospel '  propagates  another  gospel  which  is 
not  another,  and  is  inimical  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  Its  gospel  is  prelacy  and 
clerical  authority.    It  insists  that  men  shall  be  called  master,  and  that  rites  and 


editor's  prefatory  note.  43 

Mr.  Mayhew's  "  desire  to  contribute  a  mite  towards  cariying  on  a  war 
against  this  common  enemy "  that  produced  tlie  following  discourse. 
By  its  bold  inquisition  into  the  slavish  teachings  veiled  in  "the  mys- 
terious doctrine  of  the  saintship  and  martyrdom"  of  Charles  I.,  and 
its  eloquent  exposition  of  the  principles  of  ^ood  government  and  of 
Christian  manhood  in  the  state,  maddening  the  corrupt,  frightening 
the  timid,  rousing  the  apathetic,  and  bracing  the  patriot  heart,  this 
celebrated  sermon  may  be  considered  as  the  morning  gun  of  the 
Revolution,  the  punctum  temporis  when  that  period  of  history  began.i 
Of  the  several  English  editions,  one  was  published  in  Barrow's  "  Pillars 
of  Priestcraft  Shaken,"  1752,  in  a  copy  of  which  Thomas  HoUis,  of 
London,  wrote :  "  This  very  curious  dissertation  on  government  .  .  . 
is  the  first  on  that  subject  that  has  been  produced"  —  in  later  times 
—  "from  the  American  world."  It  was  the  medium  of  Mr.  Hollis's 
friendship  to  Mayhew  and  Harvard  College;  and  so,  incidentally, 
operated  wonderfully  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  liberty,  civil  and  religious, 
in  America.  Its  effect  on  the  public  mind  was  decided  and  permanent. 
From  this  moment  —  the  dawn  of  independence  —  the  spirit  of  the 
people  was  aroused,  ever  gathering  force  and  intensity,  ever  narrowing 
and  concentrating  in  the  idea  of  resistance,  more  and  more  distinctly 
as  the  spirit  of  arbitrary  power  expressed  itself  in  acts  more  and  more 
offensive,  until  resistance  culminated  in  bloodshed  in  1775,  and 
triumphed  in  peace  in  1783.  Robert  Treat  Paine  called  Dr.  Mayhew 
"The  Father  of  Civil  and  ReUgious  Liberty  in  Massachusetts  and 
America." 
The  preacher  was  then  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age.    The  manner 


observances,  taught  and  practised  by  the  proper  masters  of  ceremonies,  avail 
everything.    The  essential  spirit  of  Popery  pervades  the  society,  and  its  secre- 
tary, the  Rev.  Ernest  Hawkins,  was  one  of  the  earliest  adherents  to  the  new"  — 
revived  —  "  Oxford  apostasy." 
1  The  total  change  of  political  relation  and  ideas,  of  manners  and  prejudices, 

—  the  fading  of  the  old  feeling  of  deference  for  rank,  the  last  tinge  of  feudality, 

—  effected  in  the  changes  and  passages  of  a  century,  renders  it  difficult  now  to 
realize  the  severity  of  the  tests  of  temper,  of  courage,  manliness,  faithfulness, 
amid  which  these  words  were  spoken  from  Dr.  Mayhew's  pulpit; — words  so 
bold,  so  decided ;  allusions  so  direct  and  pointed  that  none  could  mistake,  none 
could  evade;  principles  so  fatal  to  despotic  polity  in  church  or  state  as  to  wear 
the  very  garb  of  rebellion.  Though  now  familiar  to  the  public  mind,  and  of 
the  essence  of  our  institutions,  they  then  required  a  courage  of  the  highest 
quality,  the  truest  temper. 


44 


in  which  the  discourse  was  received  by  the  Tories  and  Churchmen  may 
be  inferred  from  the  manly  and  characteristic  "  advertisement "  prefixed 
to  the  first  edition.  It  was  as  follows :  "  The  author  of  this  discourse 
has  been  credibly  informed,  that  some  persons,  both  formerly  and 
lately,  have  Avrote  either  at  or  about  him  — or  something  (he  cannot 
well  tell  what)  in  the  common  newspapers,  which  he  does  not  often  read. 
He,  therefore,  takes  this  opportunity  to  assure  the  writers  of  that  rank, 
and  in  that  fonn,  once  for  all,  that  they  may  slander  him  as  much  as 
they  please,  without  his  notice,  and,  very  probably,  without  his  knowl- 
edge. But  if  any  person  of  common  sense  and  common  honesty  shall 
condescend  to  animadvert,  in  a  different  way,  upon  anything  which  he 
has  published,  he  may  depend  upon  having  all  proper  regard  shown 
to  him.    J.  M." 

The  authorship,  and  of  course  the  nature,  of  this  "  slander,"  is  more 
than  hinted  at  by  the  elder  President  Adams,  who  exclaims,  after 
speaking  of  Dr.  Mayhew  as  "  a  whig  of  the  first  magnitude,  —  a  clergy- 
man equalled  b}"-  very  few  of  any  denomination  in  piety,  virtue,  genius, 
or  learning;  whose  works  will  maintain  his  character  as  long  as  New 
England  shall  be  free,  integrity  esteemed,  or  wit,  spirit,  humor,  reason, 
and  knowledge  admired;"  yet  "how  was  he  treated  from  the  press? 
Did  not  the  reverend  tories  who  were  pleased  to  write  against  him,  the 
missionaries  of  defamation  as  well  as  bigotry  and  passive  obedience,  in 
their  pamphlets  and  newspapers,  bespatter  him  all  over  with  their  filth? 
Did  they  not,  with  equal  falsehood  and  malice,  charge  him  with  every 
evil  thing  ?  " 

It  was  Dr.  Mayhew  wiio  suggested  to  James  Otis  the  idea  of  com- 
mittees of  correspondence,  a  measure  of  the  greatest  efiiciency  in 
producing  concert  of  action  between  the  colonies  —  a  thing  of  vital 
importance.  Dr.  Mayhew  died  soon  after  this,  and  the  letter  to  Otis 
is  interesting  as  his  last  word  for  the  liberty  of  his  country: 

"  LoRD"s-DAY  MoRXiNG,  Juue  8th,  1766. 

"  Sir:  —  To  a  good  man  all  time  is  holy  enough;  and  none  is  too 
holy  to  do  good,  or  to  think  upon  it.  Cultivating  a  good  understanding 
and  hearty  friendship  between  these  colonies  appears  to  me  so  necessary 
a  part  of  prudence  and  good  policy,  that  no  favorable  opportunity  for 
that  purpose  should  be  omitted.     I  think  such  an  one  now  presents. 

"  Would  it  not  be  proper  and  decorous  for  our  assembly  to  send 
cu-culars  to  all  the  rest,  on  the  late  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  and  the 


editor's  prefatory  note.  45 

present  favorable  aspect  of  affiiirs  ?  —  letters  conceived  at  once  in  terms 
of  friendship  and  regard,  of  loyalty  to  the  king,  filial  affection  towards 
the  parent  country,  and  expressing  a  desire  to  cement  and  perpetuate 

union  among  ourselves,  by  all  laudable  methods Pursuing 

this  course,  or  never  losing  sight  of  it,  may  be  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  colonies,  perhaps  the  only  means  of  perpetuating  their  liberties. 
.  .  .  .  You  have  heard  of  the  communion  of  churches;  and  I  am  to 
set  out  to-morrow  morning  for  Rutland,  to  assist  at  an  ecclesiastical 
council.  Not  expecting  to  return  this  week,  while  I  was  thinking  of 
this  in  my  bed,  the  gi-eat  use  and  importance  of  a  communion  of  colonies 
appeared  to  me  in  a  strong  light;  which  led  me  immediately  to  set  down 
these  hints  to  transmit  to  you.  Not  knowing  but  the  General  Court 
may  be  prorogued  or  dissolved  before  my  return,  or  my  haA'ing  an 
opportunity  to  speak  with  you,  I  now  give  them,  that  you  may  make 
such  use  of  them  as  you  think  proper,  or  none  at  all." 

A  very  comprehensive  notice  of  Dr.  Mayhew's  character  and  writings 
is  among  the  elder  Adams's  papers.  He  says :  "  This  divine  had  repu- 
tation both  in  Europe  and  America,  by  the  publication  of  a  volume  of 
seven  sermons,  in  the  reign  of  King  George  the  Second,  1749,  and  by 
many  other  writings,  particularly  a  sermon,  in  1750,  on  the  30th  of 
January,  on  the  subject  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance,  in 
which  the  saintship  and  martyrdom  of  King  Charles  the  First  are 
considered,  seasoned  with  wit  and  satire  superior  to  any  in  Swift  or 
Franklin.  It  was  read  by  even- body;  — celebrated  by  friends,  and 
abused  by  enemies.  During  the  reigns  of  King  George  the  First  and 
King  George  the  Second,  the  reigns  of  the  Stuarts,  the  two  Jameses 
and  the  two  Charleses,  were  in  general  disgrace  in  England.  In  America 
they  had  always  been  held  in  abhorrence.  The  persecutions  and  cruelties 
suffered  by  their  ancestors  under  those  reigns  had  been  transmitted  by 
history  and  tradition,  and  Mayhew  seemed  to  be  raised  up  to  revive 
all  the  animosities  against  tyranny,  in  church  and  state,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  desti'oy  their  bigotry,  fanaticism,  and  inconsistency. 
David  Hume's  plausible,  elegant,  fascinating,  and  fallacious  apology, 
in  which  he  varaislied  over  the  crimes  of  the  Stuarts,  had  not  then 
appeared.  To  draw  the  character  of  Mayhew  would  be  to  transcribe 
a  dozen  volumes.  This  transcendent  genius  threw  all  the  weight  of 
his  great  fame  into  the  scale  of  his  country  in  1761,  and  maintained 
it  there  with  zeal  and  ardor  till  his  death,  in  17G6." 


46  editor's  prefatory  note. 

Dr.  Mayhew  was  born,  of  an  honorable  family,  at  Martha's  Vineyard, 
on  the  8th  of  October,  1720.  ^On  the  17th  of  June,  1747,  three  years 
after  his  graduation  at  Harvard  College  with  great  reputation,  he  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  West  Church  in  Boston,  of  which  the  venerable 
Dr.  Lowell  is  now  pastor.  The  charge  on  the  occasion  came  from  the 
lips  of  his  father,  the  Rev.  Experience  Mayhew,  the  distinguished 
missionary  to  the  Indians.  In  his  sermon  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  1766,  there  is  this  passage  of  autobiography :  *'  Having  been  initiated 
in  youth  in  the  doctrines  of  civil  liberty,  as  they  were  taught  by  such 
men  as  Plato,  Demosthenes,  Cicero,  and  other  renowned  persons,  among 
the  ancients;  and  such  as  Sydney  and  Milton,  Locke  and  Hoadley, 
among  the  moderns,  I  liked  them;  they  seemed  rational.  And  having 
learnt  from  the  holy  Scriptures  that  wise,  brave,  and  virtuous  men 
were  always  friends  to  liberty,  —  that  God  gave  the  Israelites  a  king  in 
his  anger,  because  they  had  not  sense  and  virtue  enough  to  like  a  free 
commonwealth,  —  and  that  where  *  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is 
liberty,' — this  made  me  conclude  that  freedom  was  a  great  blessing." 

His  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  presented  to  him,  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  Aberdeen,  in  1751,  the  year  after  his  sermon  of  January 
30th. 

Critical  notices  of  his  numerous  publications  may  be  found  in  Dr. 
Eliot's  admirable  sketch  of  his  life  and  character,  one  of  the  best  of 
Dr.  Eliot's  biographical  delineations. 

Beloved  for  his  pastoral  fidelity  and  generous  deeds,  distinguished 
for  his  genius  and  intellectual  strength,  eminent  in  both  Englands  as 
a  scholar  and  divine,  revered  as  a  true  lover  of  liberty  and  ardent 
Christian  patriot,  this  noble  man  died,  at  Boston,  July  10th,  17GG,  aged 
forty-five  years,  mourned  by  the  great  and  the  good. 

The  likeness  of  Dr.  Mayhew  in  this  volume  is  copied  from  a  print  in  the 
Memoirs  of  Thomas  Hollis,  Esq.,  1780.  The  original  was  a  crayon,  taken 
in  Boston,  probably  by  Smibert.  Mr.  Hollis  paid  Cypriani  thirty  guineas 
for  the  allegorical  designs  and  engraving,  which,  being  in  quarto,  could 
not  be  all  reproduced  in  this  smaller  picture. 


PKEFACE. 


The  ensuing  Discourse  is  the  last  of  three  upon  the  same 
subject,  "svith  some  little  alterations  and  additions.  It  is  hoped 
that  but  few  will  think  the  subject  of  it  an  improper  one  to 
be  discoursed  on  in  the  pulpit,  under  a  notion  that  this  is 
preaching  politics,  instead  of  Christ.  However,  to  remove 
all  prejudices  of  this  sort,  I  beg  it  may  be  remembered  that 
"  all  Scripture  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  cor- 
rection, for  instruction  in  righteousness."  ^  ^  Why,  then,  should 
not  those  parts  of  Scripture  which  relate  to  civil  government 
be  examined  and  explained  from  the  desk,  as  well  as  others  ? 
Obedience  to  the  civil  magistrate  is  a  Christian  duty ;  and 
if  so,  why  should  not  the  nature,  grounds,  and  extent  of  it 
be  considered  in  a  Chi'istian  assembly  ?  Besides,  if  it  be  said 
that  it  is  out  of  character  for  a  Christian  minister  to  meddle 
•with  such  a  subject,  this  censure  will  at  last  fall  upon  the 
holy  apostles.     They  write  upon  it  in  their  epistles  to  Chris- 

a  2  Peter  iii.  16. 

1  The  authoi-"s  notes  are  designated  by  letters;   the  editor's  by  figures,  and 
signed  —  Ed, 


48  PREFACE. 

tian  churches ;  and  surely  it  cannot  be  deemed  either  criminal 
or  impertinent  to  attempt  an  explanation  of  their  doctrine. 

It  was  the  near  approach  of  the  thirtieth  of  January  that 
turned  my  thoughts  to  this  subject :  on  which  solemnity  the 
slavish  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance  is 
often  warmly  asserted,^  and  the  dissenters  from  the  Established 


1  For  example:  On  the  day  of  the  execution  of  Lord  "William  Russell,  1683, 
the  University  of  Oxford  declared  "  submission  and  obedience,  clear,  absolute, 
and  without  exception,  to  be  the  badge  and  character  of  the  Church  of  England.'''' 

The  Rev.  John  Gierke,  iu  a  sermon  at  Rochester  Cathedral,  May  29, 1684,  said: 
"  "Whosoever  shall  compare  the  trial  of  our  blessed  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  before 
Pontius  Pilate's  first  high  court  of  justice,  with  the  arraignment  of  our  late  most 
barbarously  murdered  king  before  John  Bradshaw's  second,  shall  find  them  to 
differ  no  more  than  a  faithful  copy  from  its  original,  with  conditions  exactly 
parallel,  and,  I  had  almost  said,  alike  in  sufferings,  alike  in  innocence;  .  .  . 
the  Breath  of  our  nostrils,  the  Anointed  of  the  Lord,  .  .  .  the  only  true  Vice- 
gerent of  Jesus  Christ,  that  supreme  Bishop  of  our  souls." 

The  Rev.  Henry  Sacheverell,  D.  D.,  preached  at  the  cathedral  iu  London,  No- 
vember 5, 1709,  "  the  subject's  obligation  to  absolute  and  unconditional  obedience 
to  the  supreme  power  in  all  things  lawful,  and  the  utter  illegality  of  resistance, 
upon  any  pretence  whatsoever.  The  Euglislimau  is  born  with  an  innate,  sullen 
principle  of  discontent,  which  directly  interferes  with  that  inward  quiet,  that 
sedate  serenity  of  mind,  which  is  alone  able  to  yield  true  peace  and  satisfaction, 
.  .  .  and  he  will  forsake  the  true  Fountain  of  living  xoater,  the  Church  of 
England.  ...  He  sends  his  children,  in  their  tender  years,  to  suck  in  those 
deadly  envenomed  principles  that  are  but  too  commonly  prated  np  in  conventi- 
cles,—  those  seminaries  of  7nurmuring  and  nurseries  of  rebellion  ;  .  .  .  and 
actually  engage  tlieir  unstable  minds  .  .  .  against  the  king's  sacred  person, 
his  serene  and  happy  government." 

"It  may  be  hoped,"  said  the  philosopher  Locke,  "  the  ages  to  come,  redeemed 
from  the  impositions  of  these  Egyptian  under-task-masters,  will  abhor  the  mem- 
ory of  such  servile  flatterers,  who,  whilst  it  seemed  to  serve  their  turn,  resolved  all 
government  into  absolute  tyranny,  and  would  have  all  men  born  to,  what  their 
mean  souls  fitted  them  for,  slavery.  "  Yet  in  New  England,  and  in  our  own  times, 
these  "  Egyptian  "  monstrosities  are  eulogized  as  '■'■sentiments  of  the  highest  sublim- 
ity,'''' "  the  badge  and  character  of  the  Church  of  England."  —  Oliver's  Puritan 
Commonu'ealfh,  1856,  pp.  482-3.  Indeed,  Lord  King  says,  "As  for  toleration,  or 
any  true  notion  of  religious  liberty,  or  an)"^  general  freedom  of  conscience,  we 
owe  them  not  in  the  least  degree  to  what  is  called  the  Church  of  England.  On 
the  contrary,  we  owe  all  these  to  the  Independents  in  the  time  of  the  Common- 
wealth, and  to  Locke,  their  most  illustrious  and  enlightened  disciple."  —  Ed. 


PREFACE.  49 

Church  represented  not  only  as  schismatics  (with  more  of 
triumph  than  of  truth,  and  of  choler  than  Christianity),  but 
also  as  persons  of  seditious,  traitorous,  and  rebelhous  princi- 
ples.^ God  be  thanked  !  one  may,  in  any  part  of  the  British 
dominions,  speak  freely  —  if  a  decent  regard  be  paid  to  those 
in  authority  —  both  of  government  and  religion,  and  even 
give  some  broad  hints  that  he  is  engaged  on  the  side  of  lib- 
erty, the  Bible,  and  common  sense,  in  opposition  to  tyranny, 
priestcraft,  and  nonsense,  without  being  in  danger  either  of 
the  Bastile  or  the  Inquisition,  —  though  there  will  always  be 
some  interested  politicians,  contracted  bigots,  and  hypocritical 
zealots  for  a  party,  to  take  offence  at  such  freedoms.  Their 
censure  is  praise  ;  their  praise  is  infamy.  A  spirit  of  domi- 
nation is  always  to  be  guarded  against,  both  in  church  and 
state,  even   in  times  of  the  greatest  security,  —  such  as  the 


1  The  author  wrote  to  Benjamin  Averv,  LL.  D.,  of  Grey's  Hospital,  London: 
*'  I  have  ventured  to  send  you  a  discourse  which  I  published  last  winter,  about 
the  time  that  the  Episcopal  clergy  here  are  often  seized  with  a  strange  sort  of 
frenzy,  which  I  know  not  how  to  describe,  unless  it  be  by  one  or  two  of  its  most 
remarkable  symptoms.  These  are,  preaching  passive  obedience,  worshipping 
King  Charles  I.,  and  cursing  the  Dissenters  and  Puritans  for  murdering  him. 
You  possibly  have  seen  persons  in  this  melancholy  condition,  as  you  have  so 
much  concern  with  a  hospital^  but  especially  if  your  humanity — as  is  very- 
likely —  has  ever  led  you  to  Bedlam,  to  relieve  the  pitiable  objects  there."'  Thir- 
teen years  afterward.  Dr.  Mayhew,  referring  to  this  passage,  wrote:  "Some 
of  the  P2piscopal  clergy  here  used,  on  the  same  occasion,  to  assert  the  divine, 
hereditary,  and  indefeasible  right  of  kings,  in  direct,  manifest  opposition  to  the 
principles  of  the  Revolution;  almost  deifying  Archbishop  Laud,  as  well  as 
Charles  I. ;  calumniating  Nonconformists  as  schismatics,  fanatics,  persons  of 
republican,  rebellious  principles,  and  imitating,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  the 
manner  and  style  of  the  keenest,  severest  sermons  ever  published  in  England  on 
the  same  occasion  "  —  January  30th-  —  Ed. 

5 


50  PREFACE. 

present  is  among  us,  at  least  as  to  the  latter.  Those  nations 
who  are  now  groaning  under  the  iron  sceptre  of  tyranny- 
were  once  free  ;  so  they  might  probably  have  remained,  by 
a  seasonable  precaution  against  despotic  measures.  Civil 
tyranny  is  usually  small  in  its  beginning,  like  "  the  drop  of  a 
bucket,"  °-  till  at  length,  like  a  mighty  torrent,  or  the  raging 
waves  of  the  sea,  it  bears  down  all  before  it,  and  deluges 
whole  countries  and  empires.  Thus  it  is  as  to  ecclesiastical 
tyranny  also  —  the  most  cruel,  intolerable,  and  impious  of 
any.  From  small  beginnings,  "  it  exalts  itself  above  all  that 
is  called  Grod  and  that  is  worshipped."  ^  People  have  no 
security  against  being  unmercifully  priest-ridden  but  by  keep- 
ing all  imperious  bishops,  and  other  clergymen  who  love  to 
"  lord  it  over  God's  heritage,"  from  getting  their  foot  into  the 
stirrup  at  all.^  Let  them  be  once  fairly  mounted,  and  their 
"  beasts,  the  laity,"  ^  may  prance  and  flounce  about  to  no 
purpose ;  and  they  will  at  length  be  so  jaded  and  hacked  by 
these  reverend  jockeys,  that  they  will  not  even  have  spirits 
enough  to  complain  that  their  backs  are  galled,  or,  like 
Balaam's  ass,  to  "  rebuke  the  madness  of  the  prophet."  ^ 

"The  mystery  of  iniquity  began  to  work"®  even  in  the 
days  of  some  of  the  apostles.  But  the  kingdom  of  Antichrist 
was  then,  in  one  respect,  like  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  how- 

a  Isaiah  xi.  15.  c  Mr.  Leslie.  e  2  Thess.  ii.  7. 

«>  2  Thess.  ii.  4.  d  2  Peter  ii.  16. 

1  Especially  in  America,  toward  which  they  did  cast  longing  eyes.  —  Ed. 


PREFACE.  51 

over  different  in  all  others ;  —  it  was  "  as  a  grain  of  mustard- 
seed."  *  This  grain  was  sown  in  Italy,  that  fruitful  field, 
and,  though  it  were  "  the  least  of  all  seeds,"  it  soon  became  a 
mighty  tree.  It  has  long  since  overspread  and  darkened  the 
greatest  part  of  Christendom,  so  that  we  may  apply  to  it  what 
is  said  of  the  tree  which  Nebuchadnezzar  saw  in  his  vision : 
— "  The  height  thereof  reacheth  unto  heaven,  and  the  sight 
thereof  to  the  end  of  all  the  earth ;  and  the  beasts  of  the  field 
have  shadow  under  it."  Tyranny  brings  ignorance  and  bru- 
tality along  with  it.  It  degrades  men  from  their  just  rank 
into  the  class  of  brutes ;  it  damps  their  spirits ;  it  suppresses 
arts ;  it  extinguishes  every  spark  of  noble  ardor  and  gener- 
osity in  the  breasts  of  those  who  are  enslaved  by  it ;  it  makes 
naturally  strong  and  great  minds  feeble  and  little,  and  tri- 
umphs over  the  ruins  of  virtue  and  humanity.  This  is  true 
of  tyranny  in  every  shape  :  there  can  be  nothing  great  and 
good  where  its  influence  reaches.  For  which  reason  it  be- 
comes every  friend  to  truth  and  human  kind,  every  lover  of 
God  and  the  Christian  religion,  to  bear  a  part  in  opposing 
this  hateful  monster.  It  was  a  desire  to  contribute  a  mite 
towards   carrying  on  a  war  with  this  common  enemy  ^  that 

a  Matt.  xiii.  21. 

1  To  Dr.  George  Benson  he  wrote:  "I  was,  about  this  time,  much  provoked 
by  the  senseless  clamors  of  some  tory-spirited  Churchmen  ;  this  being  the 
strange  spirit  which  seems  to  prevail  among  the  Episcopal  clergy  here  even  to 
this  day. "  —  Ed. 


52  PREFACE. 

produced  the  following  Discourse ;  and  if  it  serve  in  any 
measure  to  keep  up  a  spirit  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
amongst  us,  my  end  is  answered.  There  are  virtuous  and 
candid  men  in  all  sects  ;  all  such  are  to  be  esteemed.  There 
are  also  vicious  men  and  bigots  in  all  sects,  and  all  such 
ought  to  be  despised. 

"To  Virtue  only  and  her  friends  a  friend; 
The  world  beside  may  murmur  or  commend : 
Know,  all  the  distant  din  that  world  can  keep 
Kolls  o'er  my  grotto,  and  but  soothes  my  sleep."  —  Pope. 

JONATHAN    MAYHEW. 


DISCOURSE  I 


UNLIMITED  SUBMISSION  AND  NON-RESISTANCE  TO  THE 
HIGHER  POWERS. 


LET  EVERY  SOUL  BE  SUBJECT  UNTO  THE  HIGHER  POWERS.  FOR  THERE  IS 
KO  POWER  BUT  OP  GOD:  THE  POWERS  THAT  BE  ARE  ORDAINED  OP  GOD. 
WHOSOEVER  THEREFORE  RESISTETH  THE  POWER,  RESISTETH  THE  ORDI- 
NANCE OF  god:  and  they  that  resist  SHALL  RECEIVE  TO  THEMSELVES 
DAMNATION.  FOR  RULERS  ARE  NOT  A  TERROR  TO  GOOD  WORKS,  BUT  TO 
THE  EVIL.  AVILT  THOU  THEN  NOT  BE  AFRAID  OF  THE  POWER?  DO  THAT 
WHICH  IS  GOOD,  AND  THOU  SHALT  HAVE  PRAISE  OF  THE  SAME  ;  FOR  HE 
IS  THE  MINISTER  OP  GOD  TO  THEE  FOR  GOOD.  BUT  IF  THOU  DO  THAT 
WHICH  IS  EVIL,  BE  AFRAID;  FOR  HE  BEARETH  NOT  THE  SWORD  IN  VAIN: 
FOR  HE  IS  THE  MINISTER  OF  GOD,  A  REVENGER  TO  EXECUTE  WRATH  UPON 
HIM  THAT  DOETH  EVIL.  WHEREFORE  YE  MUST  NEEDS  BE  SUBJECT,  NOT 
ONLY  FOR  WRATH,  BUT  ALSO  FOR  CONSCIENCE'  SAKE.  FOR,  FOR  THIS  CAUSE 
PAY  YOU  TRIBUTE  ALSO:  FOR  THEY  ARE  GOD'S  MINISTERS,  ATTENDING 
CONTINUALLY  UPON  THIS  VERY  THING.  RENDER  THEREFORE  TO  ALL  THEIR 
DUES:  TRIBUTE  TO  WHOM  TRIBUTE  IS  DUE;  CUSTOM  TO  WHOM  CUSTOM; 
FEAR  TO  WHOM   FEAR;    HONOR  TO  WHOM  HONOR.  —  RomauS  Xiii.  1—8. 


It  is  evident  that  the  affairs  of  civil  government  may 
properly  fall  under  a  moral  and  religious  consideration,  at 
least  so  far  forth  as  it  relates  to  the  general  nature  and 
end  of  magistracy,  and  to  the  grounds  and  extent  of  that 
submission  which  persons  of  a  private  character  ought  to 
yield  to  those  who  are  vested  with  authority.  This  must 
be  allowed  by  all  who  acknowledge  the  divine  original  of 
Christianity.  For,  although  there  be  a  sense,  and  a  very 
plain  and  important  sense,  in  which  Christ's  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world,^  his  inspired  apostles  have,  nevertheless, 
laid  down  some  general  principles  concerning  the  office 

a  John  xviii.  36. 

5* 


64  UNLIMITED   SUBMISSION   AND 

of  civil  rulers,  and  the  duty  of  subjects,  together  with  the 
reason  and  obligation  of  tliat  duty.  And  from  hence  it 
follows,  that  it  is  proper  for  all  who  acknowledge  the  au- 
thority of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  inspiration  of  his  apostles, 
to  endeavor  to  understand  what  is  in  fact  the  doctrine 
which  they  have  delivered  concerning  this  matter.  It  is 
the  duty  of  Christian  magistrates  to  inform  themselves 
what  it  is  which  their  religion  teaches  concerning  the  na- 
ture and  design  of  their  office.  And  it  is  equally  the  duty 
of  all  Christian  people  to  inform  themselves  what  it  is 
which  their  religion  teaches  concerning  that  subjection 
which  they  owe  to  the  higher  powers.  It  is  for  these  rea- 
sons that  I  have  attempted  to  examine  into  the  Scripture 
account  of  this  matter,  in  order  to  lay  it  before  you  with 
the  same  freedom  which  I  constantly  use  with  relation  to 
other  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christianity  ;  not  doubting 
but  you  will  judge  upon  everything  offered  to  your  con- 
sideration with  the  same  spirit  of  freedom  and  liberty  with 
which  it  is  spoken. 

The  passage  read  is  the  most  full  and  express  of  any  in 
the  New  Testament  relating  to  rulers  and  subjects;  and 
therefore  I  thought  it  proper  to  ground  upon  it  what  I  had 
to  propose  to  you  with  reference  to  the  authority  of  the 
civil  magistrate,  and  the  subjection  which  is  due  to  him. 
But,  before  I  enter  upon  an  explanation  of  the  several 
l^arts  of  this  passage,  it  will  be  proper  to  observe  one 
thing,  which  may  serve  as  a  key  to  the  whole  of  it. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  then,  that  there  were  some  persons 
amongst  the  Christians  of  the  apostolic  age,  and  particu- 
larly those  at  Rome,  to  whom  St.  Paul  is  here  writing,  who 
seditiously  disclaimed  all  subjection  to  civil  authority; 
refusing  to  pay  taxes,  and  the  duties  laid  upon  tlicir  traffic 
and  merchandise ;  and  who  scrupled  not  to  speak  of  their 
rulers  witliout  any  due  regard  to  their  office  and  character. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  55 

Some  of  these  turbulent  Christians  were  converts  from 
Judaism,  and  others  from  Paganism.  The  Jews  in  general 
had,  long  before  this  time,  taken  up  a  strange  conceit,  that, 
being  the  peculiar  and  elect  people  of  God,  they  were 
therefore  exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  any  heathen 
princes  or  governors.  Upon  this  ground  it  was  that  some 
of  them,  during  the  public  ministry  of  our  blessed  Sav- 
iour, came  to  him  with  that  question,  "  Is  it  lawful  to  give 
tribute  unto  Ciesar,  or  not?"*  And  this  notion  many  of 
them  retained  after  they  were  proselyted  to  the  Christian 
faith.  As  to  the  Gentile  converts,  some  of  them  grossly 
mistook  the  nature  of  that  liberty  which  the  gospel  prom- 
ised, and  thought  that  by  virtue  of  their  subjection  to 
Christ,  the  only  king  and  head  of  his  church,  they  were 
wholly  freed  from  subjection  to  any  other  prince;  as  though 
Christ's  kingdom  had  been  of  this  world  in  such  a  sense 
as  to  interfere  w^ith  the  civil  powers  of  the  earth,  and  to 
deliver  their  subjects  from  that  allegiance  and  duty  which 
they  before  owed  to  them.  Of  these  visionary  Christians 
in  general,  who  disowned  subjection  to  the  civil  powers  in 
being  where  they  respectively  lived,  there  is  mention  made 
in  several  places  in  the  New  Testament.  The  apostle 
Peter,  in  particular,  characterizes  them  in  this  manner: 
them  that  "  despise  government,  presumptuous  are  they ; 
self-willed;  they  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignities."^ 
Now,  it  is  with  reference  to  these  doting  Christians  that 
the  apostle  speaks  in  the  passage  before  us.  And  I  shall 
now  give  you  the  sense  of  it  in  a  paraphrase  upon  each 
verse  in  its  order ;  desiring  you  to  keep  in  mind  the  char- 
acter of  the  persons  for  whom  it  is  designed,  that  so,  as  I 
go  along,  you  may  see  how  just  and  natural  this  address 
is,  and  how  well  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  those 
against  whom  it  is  levelled. 

a  Matt.  xxii.  17.  b  2  Pet.  ii.  10. 


66  UNLIMITED   SUBMISSION   AND 

The  apostle  begins  thus:  "Let  every  soul''  be  subject 
•unto  the  higher  powers;^  for  there  is  no  power °  but  of 
God;  the  powers  that  be"^  are  ordained  of  God;^"^'  q.  d.^ 
"  Whereas  some  professed  Christians  vainly  imagine  that 
they  are  wholly  excused  from  all  manner  of  duty  and  sub- 
jection to  civil  authority,  refusing  to  honor  their  rulers 
and  to  pay  taxes ;  which  opinion  is  not  only  unreasonable 
in  itself,  but  also  tends  to  fix  a  lasting  reproach  upon  the 
Christian  name  and  profession  —  I  now,  as  an  apostle  and 
ambassador  of  Christ,  exhort  every  one  of  you,  be  he  who 
he  will,  to  pay  all  dutiful  submission  to  those  who  are 
vested  with  any  civil  ofiice  ;  for  there  is,  properly  speak- 
ing, no  authority  but  what  is  derived  from  God,  as  it  is 
only  by  his  permission  and  providence  that  any  possess 
it.  Yea,  I  may  add,  that  all  civil  magistrates,  as  such, 
although  they  may  be  heathens,  are  appointed  and  ordained 
of  God.     For  it  is  certainly  God's  will  that  so  useful  an 


a  <' Every  soul."  This  is  a  Hebraism,  which  signifies  every  man;  so  that  the 
apostle  does  uot  exempt  the  clergy,  such  as  were  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy  or  any  other  miraculous  powers  which  subsisted  in  the  church  at  that 
day.  And  by  his  using  the  Hebrew  idiom,  it  seems  that  he  had  the  Jewish  con- 
verts principally  in  his  eye. 

b  "  The  higher  powers;"  more  literally,  the  over-ruling  poivers ;  which  term 
extends  to  all  civil  rulers  in  common. 

c  By  "  power"  the  apostle  intends,  not  lawless  strength  and  brutal  force,  with- 
out regulation  and  proper  direction,  but  just  authority;  for  so  the  word  here 
used  properly  signifies.  There  may  be  power  where  there  is  no  authorit)'.  No 
man  has  any  authority  to  do  what  is  wrong  and  injurious,  though  he  may  have 
the  power  to  do  it. 

d  "  The  powers  that  be."  Those  persons  who  are  in  fact  vested  with  authority; 
those  who  are  in  possession.  And  who  those  are,  the  apostle  leaves  Christians  to 
determine  for  themselves;  but  whoever  they  are,  they  are  to  be  obeyed. 

e  "  Ordained  of  God."  As  it  is  not  without  God's  providence  and  permission 
that  any  are  clothed  with  authority ;  and  as  it  is  agreeable  to  the  positive  will 
and  purpose  of  God  that  there  should  be  some  persons  vested  with  authority  for 
the  good  of  society ;  —  not  that  any  rulers  have  their  commission  from  God,  the 
supreme  Lord  of  the  universe.  If  any  assert  that  kings,  or  any  other  rulers,  are 
ordained  of  God  in  the  latter  sense,  it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  show  the  com- 
mission which  they  speak  of  under  the  broad  seal  of  heaven.  And  wheu  they  do 
this,  they  will,  no  doubt,  be  believed. 

f  Rom.  xiii.  1. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO    THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  57 

institution  as  that  of  magistracy  should  take  place  in  the 
world  for  the  good  of  civil  society."  The  apostle  pro- 
ceeds: "Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth 
the  ordinance  of  God ;  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to 
themselves  damnation."^  q,  d.,  "Think  not,  therefore,  that 
ye  are  guiltless  of  any  crime  or  sin  against  God,  when 
ye  factiously  disobey  and  resist  the  civil  authority.  For 
magistracy  and  government  being,  as  I  have  said,  the 
ordinance  and  appointment  of  God,  it  follows,  that  to 
resist  magistrates  in  the  execution  of  their  offices,  is  really 
to  resist  the  will  and  ordinance  of  God  himself;  and  they 
who  thus  resist  will  accordingly  be  punished  by  God  for  this 
sin,  in  common  with  others."  The  apostle  goes  on  :  "  For 
rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil.'* 
Wilt  thou,  then,  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ?  Do  that 
which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same ; 
for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good."  °  q.  cl, 
"That  you  may  see  the  truth  and  justness  of  what  I 
assert  (viz.,  that  magistracy  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and 
that  you  sin  against  him  in  opposing  it),  consider  that 
even  pagan  rulers  are  not,  by  the  nature  and  design  of 
their  office,  enemies  and  a  terror  to  the  good  and  virtuous 
actions  of  men,  but  only  to  the  injurious  and  mischievous 
to  society.  Will  ye  not,  then,  reverence  and  honor  magis- 
tracy, when  ye  see  the  good  end  and  intention  of  it? 
How  can  ye  be  so  unreasonable  ?  Only  mind  to  do  your 
duty  as  members  of  society,  and  this  will  gain  you  the 

a  Rom.  xiii.  2. 

b  "•  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil."  It  cannot  be 
supposed  that  the  apostle  designs  here,  or  in  any  of  the  succeeding  verses,  to  give 
the  true  character  of  Nero,  or  any  other  civil  powers  then  in  being,  as  if  they 
were  in  fact  such  persons  as  he  describes,  a  terror  to  evil  works  only,  and  not  to 
the  good.  For  such  a  character  did  not  belong  to  them;  and  the  apostle  was  no 
sycophant,  or  parasite  of  power,  whatever  some  of  his  pretended  successors  have 
been.  He  only  tells  what  rulers  would  be,  provided  they  acted  up  to  their  char- 
acter and  office. 

c  Ilom.  xiii.  3,  4. 


68  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

applause  and  favor  of  all  good  rulers.  For,  while  you  do 
thus,  they  are  by  their  office,  as  ministers  of  God,  obliged 
to  encourage  and  protect  you  :  it  is  for  this  very  purpose 
that  they  are  clothed  with  power."  The  apostle  subjoins  : 
"  But  if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid  ;  for  he  bear- 
eth  not  the  sword  in  vain.  For  he  is  the  minister  of  God, 
a  revenger,  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil.''"^ 
q,  c?.,  "  But,  upon  the  other  hand,  if  ye  I'efuse  to  do  your 
duty  as  members  of  society  ;  if  ye  refuse  to  bear  your 
part  in  the  support  of  government ;  if  ye  are  disorderly, 
and  do  things  which  merit  civil  chastisement,  —  then, 
indeed,  ye  have  reason  to  be  afraid.  For  it  is  not  in 
vain  that  rulers  are  vested  with  the  power  of  inflicting 
punishment.  They  are,  by  their  office,  not  only  the  minis- 
ters of  God  for  good  to  those  that  do  well,  but  also  his 
ministers  to  revenge,  to  discountenance,  and  punish  those 
that  are  unruly,  and  injurious  to  their  neighbors."  The 
apostle  proceeds:  "Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be  subject 
not  only  for  wa*ath,  but  also  for  conscience'  sake."  "^  q.  c?., 
"  Since,  therefore,  magistracy  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and 
since  rulers  are  by  their  office  benefactors  to  society,  by 
discouraging  what  is  bad  and  encouraging  what  is  good, 

a  It  is  manifest  tliat  when  the  apostle  speaks  of  it  as  the  oflSce  of  civil  rulers  to 
encourage  what  is  good  and  to  punish  what  is  evil,  he  speaks  only  of  civil  good 
and  evil.  They  are  to  consult  the  good  of  society,  as  such;  not  to  dictate  in  reli- 
gious concerns;  not  to  make  laws  for  the  government  of  men's  consciences,  and 
to  inflict  civil  penalties  for  religious  crimes.  It  is  sufficient  to  overthrow  the 
doctrine  of  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  aftairs  of  a  spiritual  nature  (so 
far  as  it  is  built  upon  anything  which  is  here  said  by  St.  Paul,  or  upon  anything 
else  in  the  New  Testament)  only  to  observe  that  all  the  magistrates  then  in  the 
world  were  heathen,  implacable  enemies  to  Christianity;  so  that,  to  give  them 
authority  in  religious  matters,  would  have  been,  in  effect,  to  give  them  authority 
to  extirpate  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  establish  the  idolatries  and  supersti- 
tious of  paganism.  And  can  any  one  reasonably  suppose  that  the  apostle  had 
any  intention  to  extend  the  authority  of  rulers  beyond  concerns  merely  civil  and 
political,  to  the  overthrowing  of  that  religion  which  he  himself  was  so  zealous  in 
propagating?  But  it  is  natural  for  tliose  whose  religion  cannot  be  supported 
upon  the  footing  of  reason  and  argument,  to  have  recourse  to  power  and  force, 
which  will  serve  a  bad  cause  as  well  as  a  good  one,  and,  indeed,  much  better, 

b  Kom.  xiii.  4.  c  Rom.  xiii.  5. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE  HIGHER  POWERS.  59 

and  so  preserving  peace  and  order  amongst  men,  it  is 
evident  that  ye  ought  to  pay  a  willing  subjection  to  them; 
not  to  obey  merely  for  fear  of  exposing  yourselves  to  their 
wrath  and  displeasure,  but  also  in  point  of  reason,  duty, 
and  conscience.  Ye  are  under  an  indispensable  obligation, 
as  Christians,  to  honor  their  office,  and  to  submit  to  them 
in  the  execution  of  it."  The  apostle  goes  on :  "  For,  for 
this  cause  pay  you  tribute  also ;  for  they  are  God's  minis- 
ters, attending  continually  upon  this  very  thing."  ^  q.  d.^ 
"  And  here  is  a  plain  reason  also  why  ye  should  pay 
tribute  to  them,  —  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  exalted 
above  the  common  level  of  mankind,  —  not  that  they  may 
indulge  themselves  in  softness  and  luxury,  and  be  entitled 
to  the  servile  homage  of  their  fellow-men,  but  that  they 
may  execute  an  office  no  less  laborious  than  honorable,  and 
attend  continually  upon  the  public  welfare.  This  being 
their  business  and  duty,  it  is  but  reasonable  that  they 
should  be  requited  for  their  care  and  diligence  in  perform- 
ing it ;  and  enabled,  by  taxes  levied  upon  the  subject, 
effectually  to  prosecute  the  great  end  of  their  institution, 
the  good  of  society."  The  apostle  sums  all  up  in  the  follow- 
ing words  :  "  Render,  therefore,  to  all  their  dues ;  tribute^ 
to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  custom^  to  whom  custom ;  fear 
to  whom  fear;  honor  to  whom  honor." *=  q.  c?.,  "Let  it 
not  therefore  be  said  of  any  of  you  hereafter,  that  you 
contemn  government,  to  the  reproach  of  yourselves  and 
of  the  Christian  religion.  Neither  your  being  Jews  by 
nation,  nor  your  becoming  the  subjects  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, gives  you  any  dispensation  for  making  disturbances 

a  Eom.  xiii.  6. 

b  Grotius  observes,  that  the  Greek  words  here  used  answer  to  the  trilnifum  and 
vectigal  of  the  Eomaus:  the  former  was  the  money  paid  for  the  soil  and  poll, 
the  latter  the  dues  laid  upon  some  sorts  of  merchandise.  And  what  the  apostle 
here  says  deserves  to  be  seriously  considered  by  all  Christians  concerned  in  that 
common  practice  of  carrying  on  an  illicit  trade  and  running  of  goods. 

c  Rom.  xiii.  7. 


60  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

in  the  government  under  which  you  live.  Approve  your- 
selves, therefore,  as  peaceable  and  dutiful  subjects.  Be 
ready  to  pay  to  your  rulers  all  that  they  may,  in  respect  of 
their  olRce,  justly  demand  of  you.  Render  tribute  and 
custom  to  those  of  your  governors  to  whom  tribute  and 
custom  belong;  and  cheerfully  honor  and  reverence  all 
who  are  vested  with  civil  authority,  according  to  their 
deserts." 

The  apostle's  doctrine,  in  the  passage  thus  explained, 
concerning  the  office  of  civil  rulers,  and  the  duty  of  sub- 
jects, may  be  summed  up  in  the  following  observations,'* 
viz. : 

That  the  end  of  magistracy  is  the  good  of  civil  society, 
as  such. 

That  civil  rulers,  as  sucJi^  are  the  ordinance  and  minis- 
ters of  God ;  it  being  by  his  permission  and  providence 
that  any  bear  rule,  and  agreeable  to  his  will  that  there 
should  be  some  persons  vested  with  authority  in  society, 
for  the  well-being  of  it. 

That  which  is  here  said  concerning  civil  rulers  extends 
to  all  of  them  in  common.  It  relates  indifferently  to  mon- 
archical, republican,  and  aristocratical  government,  and  to 
all  other  forms  which  truly  answer  the  sole  end  of  govern- 
ment —  the  happiness  of  society ;  and  to  all  the  different 
degrees  of  authority  in  any  particular  state ;  to  inferior 
officers  no  less  than  to  the  supreme. 

That  disobedience  to  civil  rulers  in  the  due  exercise  of 
their  authority  is  not  merely  a  political  sin,  but  a  heinous 
offence  against  God  and  religion. 

That  the  true  ground  and  reason  ^  of  our  obligation  to  be 


a  The  Fevpral  observations  here  only  mentioned  were  handled  at  large  in  two 
preceding  discourses  upon  this  subject. 

b  Some  sujjpose  the  apostle,  in  this  passage,  enforces  the  duty  of  submission 
with  two  arguments  quite  distinct  from  eacli  other;  one  taken  from  this  consid- 
eration, that  rulers  are  the  ordinance  and  the  ministers  of  God  (vs.  1,  2.  4),  and 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  61 

subject  to  tlie  highei*  powers  is,  the  usefulness  of  magis- 
tracy (when  properly  exercised)  to  human  society,  and  its 
subserviency  to  the  general  welfare. 

That  obedience  to  civil  rulers  is  here  equally  required 
under  all  forms  of  government  which  answer  the  sole  end 
of  all  government  —  the  good  of  society ;  and  to  every 
degree  of  authority,  in  any  state,  whether  supreme  or 
subordinate.     From  whence  it  follows  — 

That  if  unlimited  obedience  and  non-resistance  be  here 
required  as  a  duty  under  any  one  form  of  government,  it 
is  also  required  as  a  duty  under  all  other  forms,  and  as  a 
duty  to  subordinate  rulers  as  well  as  to  the  supreme. 

And,  lastly,  that  those  civil  rulers  to  whom  the  apostle 
enjoins  subjection  are  the  persons  in  possession ;  the 
powers  that  be ;  those  who  are  actually  vested  with  au- 
thority.^ 

the  other  from  the  benefits  that  accrue  to  society  from  civil  government  (vs.  3, 4, 
6).  And,  indeed,  these  may  be  distinct  motives  and  arguments  for  submission, 
as  they  may  be  separately  viewed  and  contemplated.  But  when  we  consider  that 
rulers  are  not  the  ordinance  and  the  ministers  of  God  but  only  so  far  forth  as 
they  perform  God's  will  by  acting  up  to  their  office  and  character,  and  so  by 
being  benefactors  to  society,  this  makes  these  arguments  coincide,  and  run  up 
into  one  at  last;  at  least  so  far  that  the  former  of  them  cannot  hold  good  for 
submission  where  the  latter  fails.  Put  the  supposition,  that  any  man  bearing  the 
title  of  a  magistrate  should  exercise  his  power  in  such  a  manner  as  to  have  no 
claim  to  obedience  by  virtue  of  that  argument  which  is  founded  upon  the  useful- 
ness of  magistracy,  and  you  equally  take  off  the  force  of  the  other  argument 
also,  which  is  founded  upon  his  being  the  ordinance  and  the  minister  of  God; 
for  he  is  no  longer  God's  ordinance  and  minister  than  he  acts  up  to  his  ofl[ice  and 
character  by  exercising  his  power  for  the  good  of  society.  This  is,  in  brief,  the 
reason  why  it  is  said  above,  in  the  singular  number,  that  the  true  ground  and 
reason,  etc.  The  use  and  propriety  of  this  remark  may  possibly  be  more  appar- 
ent in  the  progress  of  the  argument  concerning  resistance. 

a  This  must  be  understood  with  this  proviso,  that  they  do  not  grossly  abuse 
their  power  and  trust,  but  exercise  it  for  the  good  of  those  that  are  governed. 
Who  these  persons  were  —  whether  Xero,  etc.,  or  not  —  the  apostle  does  not  say, 
but  leaves  it  to  be  determined  by  those  to  -whom  he  writes.  God  does  not  inter- 
pose in  a  miraculous  -way  to  point  out  the  persons  who  shall  bear  rule,  and  to 
whom  subjection  is  due.  And  as  to  the  unalienable,  indefeasible  right  of  primo- 
geniture, the  Scriptures  are  entirely  silent,  or,  rather,  plainly  contradict  it, — 
Saul  being  the  first  king  among  the  Israelites,  and  appointed  to  the  royal  dignity 
during  his  own  father's  lifetime;  and  he  was  succeeded,  or  rather  superseded,  by 
"  David,  the  last  bom  among  many  brethren."    Now,  if  God  has  not  invariably 

6 


62  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

There  is  one  very  important  and  interesting  point  which 
remains  to  be  inquired  into,  namely,  the  extent  of  that 
subjection  to  the  higher  powers  which  is  here  enjoined  as 
a  duty  upon  all  Christians.  Some  have  thought  it  warrant- 
able and  glorious  to  disobey  the  civil  powers  in  certain 
circumstances,  and  in  cases  of  very  great  and  general  op- 
pression, when  humble  remonstrances  fail  of  having  any 
effect ;  and,  when  the  public  welfare  cannot  be  otherwise 
provided  for  and  secured,  to  rise  unanimously  even  against 
the  sovereign  himself,  in  order  to  redress  their  grievances ; 
to  vindicate  their  natural  and  legal  rights;  to  break  the 
yoke  of  tyranny,  and  free  themselves  and  posterity  from 
inglorious  servitude  and  ruin.^  It  is  upon  this  principle 
that  many  royal  oppressors  have  been  driven  from  their 
thrones  into  banishment,  and  many  slain  by  the  hands  of 
their  subjects.     It  was  upon  this  principle  that   Tarquin 


determined  this  matter,  it  must,  of  course,  be  determined  by  men.  And  if  it  be 
determined  by  men,  it  must  be  determined  either  in  the  way  of  force  or  of  com- 
pact; and  which  of  these  is  the  most  equitable  can  be  no  question. 

1  Milton  was  of  the  same  mind.  "  It  is  not,"  said  he,  "  neither  ought 
to  be,  the  glory  of  a  Protestant  state  never  to  have  put  their  king  to 
death;  it  is  the  glory  of  a  Protestant  king  never  to  have  deserved  death. 
And  if  the  Parhament  and  military  council  do  what  they  do  without  prece- 
dent, if  it  appear  their  duty,  it  argues  the  more  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
magnanimity,  that  they  know  themselves  able  to  be  a  precedent  to  others, 
who  perhaps  in  future  ages,  if  they  prove  not  too  degenerate,  will  look 
up  with  honor,  and  aspire  towards  these  exemplary  and  matchless  deeds 
of  their  ancestors,  as  to  the  highest  top  of  their  civil  glory  and  emula- 
tion; which  heretofore,  in  the  pursuance  of  fame  and  foreign  dominion, 
spent  itself  vaingloriously  abroad;  but  henceforth  may  learn  a  better  for- 
titude, to  dare  execute  highest  justice  on  them  that  shall  by  force  of  arms 
endeavor  the  oppressing  and  bereaving  of  religion  and  their  liberty  at 
home.  That  no  unbridled  potentate  or  tyrant,  but  to  his  sorrow,  for  the 
future  may  presume  such  high  and  irrepressible  license  over  mankind,  to 
havoc  and  turn  upside  down  whole  kingdoms  of  men,  as  though  they 
were  no  more  in  respect  of  his  perverse  will  than  a  nation  of  pismires." — 
The  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magistrates.  —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  63 

was  expelled  from  Rome,  and  Julius  Coesar,  the  conqueror 
of  the  world  and  the  tyrant  of  his  country,  cut  off  in  the 
senate-house.  It  was  upon  this  j^rinciple  that  King 
Charles  I.  was  beheaded  before  his  own  banqueting-house.^ 
It  was  upon  this  principle  that  King  James  II.  was  made 
to  fly  that  country  which  he  aimed  at  enslaving  ;  and 
upon  this  principle  was  that  revolution  brought  about 
which  has  been  so  fruitful  of  happy  consequences  to  Great 
Britain.  But,  in  opposition  to  this  principle,  it  has  often 
been  asserted  ^  that  the  Scripture  in  general,  and  the  pas- 
sage under  consideration  in  particular,  makes  all  resistance 
to  princes  a  crime,  in  any  case  whatever.  If  they  turn 
tyrants,  and  become  the  common  oppressors  of  those 
Whose  welfare  they  ought  to  regard  with  a  paternal  af- 
fection, we  must  not  pretend  to  right  ourselves,  unless  it 
be  by  prayers,  and  tears,  and  humble  entreaties.  And  if 
these  methods  fail  of  procuring  redress,  we  must  not  have 
recourse  to  any  other,  but  all  suffer  ourselves  to  be  robbed 
and  butchered  at  the  pleasure  of  the  "Lord's  anointed,"  lest 
we  should  incur  the  sin  of  rebellion  and  the  punishment 
of  damnation  !  —  for  he  has  God's  authority  and  commis- 
sion to  bear  him  out  in  the  worst  of  crimes  so  far  that  he 
may  not  be  withstood  or  controlled.  Now,  whether  we 
are  obliged  to  yield  such  an  absolute  submission  to  our 
prince,  or  whether  disobedience  and  resistance  may  not  be 
justifiable  in  some  cases,  notwithstanding  anything  in  the 
j^assage  before  us,  is  an  inquiry  in  which  we  all  are  con- 
cerned ;  and  this  is  the  inquiry  which  is  the  main  design 
of  the  present  discourse. 


1  Charles  employed  Inigo  Jones  to  prepare  the  plans  for  a  magnificent 
Whitehall,  —now  Whitehall  Chapel,  —  from  the  centre  window  of  which 
the  unhappy  tyrant  passed  to  his  scaffold.  —  Ed. 

2  By  Filmer,  Brady,  Mackenzie,  Sherlock,  and  generally  by  the  Church 
of  England  writers,  with  few  exceptions.  —  Ed. 


64  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

Now,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  necessity  of  suppos- 
ing that  an  absolute,  unlimited  obedience,  whether  active 
or  passive,  is  here  enjoined,  merely  for  this  reason  —  that  the 
precept  is  delivered  in  absolute  terms,  without  any  excep- 
tion or  limitation  expressly  mentioned.  We  are  enjoined 
to  be  "  subject  to  the  higher  powers  ; "  "■  and  to  be  "  subject 
for  conscience'  sake."  ^  And  because  these  expressions  are 
absolute  and  unlimited,  or,  more  properly,  general,  some 
have  inferred  that  the  subjection  required  in  them  must 
be  absolute  and  unlimited  also,  —  at  least  so  far  forth  as  to 
make  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance  a  duty  in  all 
cases  whatever,  if  not  active  obedience  likewise;  —  though, 
by  the  way,  there  is  here  no  distinction  made  betwixt 
active  and  passive  obedience  ;  and  if  either  of  them  be* 
required  in  an  unlimited  sense,  the  other  must  be  required 
in  the  same  sense  also,  by  virtue  of  the  present  argument, 
because  the  expressions  are  equally  absolute  with  respect 
to  both.  But  that  unlimited  obedience  of  any  sort  can- 
not be  argued  merely  from  the  indefinite  expressions  in 
which  obedience  is  enjoined,  appears  from  hence,  that  ex- 
pressions of  the  same  nature  frequently  occur  in  Scripture, 
upon  which  it  is  confessed  on  all  hands  that  no  such  abso- 
lute and  unlimited  sense  ought  to  be  put.  For  example : 
"  Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world,"  ^  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon 
earth,"  ^  "  Take  therefore  no  thought  for  the  morrow,"  *^ 
are  precepts  expressed  in  at  least  equally  absolute  and  un- 
limited terms ;  but  it  is  generally  allowed  that  they  are 
to  be  understood  with  certain  restrictions  and  limitations ; 
some  de<xree  of  love  to  the  world  and  the  thin2:s  of  it 
being  allowable.  Nor,  indeed,  do  the  Right  Heverend 
Fathers  in    God^  and   other  dignified  clergymen  of  the 


a  Rom.  xiii.  1.  c  1  John  ii.  15.  e  Matt.  vi.  34. 

b  Horn.  xiii.  5.  d  Matt.  vi.  19. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  65 

Established  Church,  seem  to  be  altogether  averse  to  admit- 
ting of  restrictions  in  the  latter  case,  how  warm  soever 
any  of  them  may  be  against  restrictions  and  limitations  in 
the  case  of  submission  to  authority,  whether  civil  or  eccle- 
siastical. It  is  worth  remarking,  also,  that  patience  and 
submission  under  private  injuries  are  enjoined  in  much 
more  peremj^tory  and  absolute  terms  than  any  that  are 
used  with  regard  to  submission  to  the  injustice  and  op- 
jDression  of  civil  rulers.  Thus :  "  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye 
resist  not  evil ;  but  whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  the  right 
cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also.  And  if  any  man  will 
sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have 
thy  cloak  also.  And  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a 
mile  with  him,  go  with  him  twain." ^  Any  man  may  be 
defied  to  produce  such  strong  expressions  in  favor  of  a 
passive  and  tame  submission  to  unjust,  tyrannical  rulers, 
as  are  here  used  to  enforce  submission  to  private  injuries. 
But  how  few  are  there  that  understand  those  expressions 
literally !  And  the  reason  why  they  do  not,  is  because 
(with  submission  to  the  Quakers)  common  sense  shows 
that  they  were  not  intended  to  be  so  understood. 

But,  to  instance  in  some  Scripture  precepts  which  are 
more  directly  to  the  point  in  hand :  Children  are  com- 
manded to  obey  their  parents,  and  servants  their  masters, 
in  as  absolute  and  unlimited  terms  as  subjects  are  here 
commanded  to  obey  their  civil  rulers.  Thus  this  same 
apostle:  "Children,  obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord;  for 
this  is  right.  Honor  thy  father  and  mother,  which  is  the 
first  commandment  with  promise.  Servants,  be  obedient 
to  them  that  are  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with 
fear  and  trembling,  with  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto 
Christ."  ^    Thus,  also,  wives  are  commanded  to  be  obedient 

a  Matt.  V.  39,  40,  41.  b  Eph.  vi.  1,  etc. 

6* 


QQ  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

to  their  husbands  :  "  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your 
own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord  ;  for  the  husband  is  head 
of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church. 
Therefore,  as  the  churcli  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let  the 
wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  everything,"  '^  In  all 
these  cases,  submission  is  required  in  terms  at  least  as 
absolute  and  universal  as  are  ever  used  witli  respect  to 
rulers  and  subjects.  But  who  supposes  that  the  apostle 
ever  intended  to  teach  that  children,  servants,  and  wives, 
should,  in  all  cases  whatever,  obey  their  parents,  masters, 
and  husbands  respectively,  never  making  any  opposition  to 
their  will,  even  although  they  should  require  them  to  break 
the  commandments  of  God,  or  should  causelessly  make  an 
attempt  upon  their  lives  ?  No  one  puts  such  a  sense  upon 
these  expressions,  however  absolute  and  unlimited.  Why, 
then,  should  it  be  supposed  that  the  apostle  designed  to 
teach  universal  obedience,  whether  active  or  passive,  to 
the  higher  powers,  merely  because  his  precepts  are  deliv- 
ered in  absolute  and  unlimited  terms  ?  And  if  this  be  a 
good  argument  in  one  case,  why  is  it  not  in  others  also  ? 
If  it  be  said  that  resistance  and  disobedience  to  the  higher 
powers  is  here  said  positively  to  be  a  sin,  so  also  is  the 
disobedience  of  children  to  parents,  servants  to  masters, 
and  wives  to  husbands,  in  other  places  of  Scripture.  But 
the  question  still  remains,  whether,  in  all  these  cases,  there 
be  not  some  exceptions.  In  the  three  latter  it  is  allowed 
there  are ;  and  from  hence  it  follows,  that  barely  the  use 
of  absolute  expressions  is  no  proof  that  obedience  to 
civil  rulers  is  in  all  cases  a  duty,  or  resistance  in  all  cases 
a  sin.  I  should  not  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  take 
any  notice  at  all  of  this  argument,  had  it  not  been  much 
insisted  upon  by  some  of  the  advocates  for  passive  obedi- 
ence and  non-resistance  ;  for  it  is  in  itself  perfectly  trilling, 

a  p:ph.  V.  22—24. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  67 

and  rendered  considerable  only  by  the  stress  that  has  been 
laid  upon  it  for  want  of  better. 

There  is,  indeed,  one  passage  in  the  New  Testament 
where  it  may  seem,  at  first  view,  that  an  unlimited  sub- 
mission to  civil  rulers  is  enjoined:  "Submit  yourselves  to 
every  ordinance  of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake."  "■  To  eve7y  or- 
dinance of  man.  However,  this  expression  is  no  stronger 
than  that  before  taken  notice  of  with  relation  to  the  duty 
of  wives :  "  So  let  the  wives  be  subject  to  their  own  hus- 
bands in  everything r  But  the  true  solution  of  this  diffi- 
culty (if  it  be  one)  is  this  :  By  "  every  ordinance  of  man"  ^ 
is  not  meant  every  command  of  the  civil  magistrate  with- 
out exception,  but  every  order  of  magistrates  appointed 
by  man,  whether  superior  or  inferior ;  for  so  the  apostle 
explains  himself  in  the  very  next  words :  "  Whether  it 
be  to  the  king  as  supreme,  or  to  governors,  as  unto  them 
that  are  sent,"  etc.  But  although  the  apostle  had  not  sub- 
joined any  such  explanation,  the  reason  of  the  thing  itself 
would  have  obliged  us  to  limit  the  expression  "every  or- 
dinance of  man"  to  such  human  ordinances  and  commands 
as  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  ordinances  and  commands 
of  God,  the  Supreme  Lawgiver,  or  wuth  any  other  higher 
and  antecedent  obligations.^ 

It  is  to  be  observed,  in  the  next  place,  that  as  the  duty 

a  1  Peter  ii.  13. 

b  Literally,  every  human  institution,  or  appointment.  By  which  manner  of 
expression  the  apostle  plainly  intimates  that  rulers  derive  their  authority  im- 
mediately, not  from  God,  but  from  men. 

1  Milton  considers  this  text,  in  his  "  Defence  of  the  People  of  England," 
much  at  length.  He  says :  "  It  being  very  certain  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
gospel  is  neither  contrary  to  reason  nor  the  law  of  nations,  that  man  is 
truly  subject  to  the  hi;^her  poAvers  who  obeys  the  laws  and  the  magistrates 
so  far  as  they  govern  according  to  law.  So  that  St.  Paul  does  not  only 
command  the  people,  but  princes  themselves,  to  be  in  sul>jection;  who  are 
not  above  the  laws,  but  bound  by  them ;  .  .  .  but  whatever  power  en- 
ables a  man,  or  wliatsocATr  magistrate  takes  upon  him,  to  act  contrary  to 


68  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

of  universal  obedience  and  non-resistance  to  the  higher 
powers  cannot  be  argued  from  the  absolute,  unlimited  ex- 
pressions which  the  apostle  here  uses,  so  neither  can  it  be 
argued  fi'om  the  scope  and  drift  of  his  reasoning,  considered 
with  relation  to  the  persons  he  was  here  opposing.  As 
was  observed  above,  there  were  some  professed  Christians 
in  the  apostolic  age  who  disclaimed  all  magistracy  and 
civil  authority  in  general,  despising  government,  and  speak- 
ing evil  of  dignities  ;  some,  under  a  notion  that  Jews  ought 
not  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Gentile  rulers,  and 
others  that  they  were  set  free  from  the  temporal  powers 
by  Christ.  Now,  it  is  with  persons  of  this  licentious  opin- 
ion and  character  that  the  apostle  is  concerned ;  and  all 
that  was  directly  to  his  point  was  to  show  that  they  were 
bound  to  submit  to  magistracy  in  general.  This  is  a  cir- 
cumstance very  material  to  be  taken  notice  of,  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  sense  of  the  apostle ;  for,  this  being  con- 
sidered, it  is  sufficient  to  account  for  all  that  he  says  con- 
cerning the  duty  of  subjection  and  the  sin  of  resistance  to 
the  higher  powers,  without  having  recourse  to  the  doctrine 
of  unlimited  submission  and  passive  obedience  in  all  cases 
whatever.  Were  it  known  that  those  in  opposition  to 
whom  the  apostle  WTote  allowed  of  civil  authority  in 
general,  and  only  asserted  that  there  were  some  cases  in 
which  obedience  and  non-resistance  were  not  a  duty,  there 
would  then  indeed  be  reason  for  interpreting  this  passage 
as  containing  the  doctrine  of  unlimited  obedience  and 
non-resistance,  as  it  must,  in  this  case,  be  supposed  to  have 


what  St.  Paul  makes  the  duty  of  those  that  are  in  authority,  neither  is 
that  power  nor  that  maj^istrate  ordained  of  God.  And  consequently  to 
such  a  magistrate  no  subjection  is  commanded,  nor  is  any  due,  nor  are 
the  people  forbidden  to  resist  such  authority ;  for  in  so  doing  they  do  not 
resist  the  power  nor  the  magistracy,  as  they  are  here  excellently  well 
described,  but  they  resist  a  robber,  a  tyrant,  an  enemy."—  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  69 

been  levelled  against  such  as  denied  that  doctrine.  But 
since  it  is  certain  that  there  were  iDcrsons  who  vainly  im- 
agined that  civil  government  in  general  was  not  to  be 
regarded  by  them,  it  is  most  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  apostle  designed  his  discourse  only  against  them;  and, 
agreeably  to  this  supposition,  we  find  that  he  argues  the 
usefulness  of  civil  magistracy  in  general,  its  agreeableness 
to  the  will  and  purpose  of  God,  who  is  over  all,  and  so 
deduces  from  hence  the  obligation  of  submission  to  it. 
But  it  w^ill  not  follow  that  because  civil  government  is, 
in  general,  a  good  institution,  and  necessary  to  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  human  society,  therefore  there  are  no 
supposable  cases  in  which  resistance  to  it  can  be  innocent. 
So  that  the  duty  of  unlimited  obedience,  whether  active 
or  passive,  can  be  argued  neither  from  the  manner  of  ex- 
pression here  used,  nor  from  the  general  scope  and  design 
of  the  passage. 

And  if  we  attend  to  the  nature  of  the  argument  with 
which  the  apostle  here  enforces  the  duty  of  submission  to 
the  higher  powers,  we  shall  find  it  to  be  such  a  one  as 
concludes  not  in  favor  of  submission  to  all  who  bear  the 
title  of  rulers  in  common,  but  only  to  those  who  actually 
perform  the  duty  of  rulers  by  exercising  a  reasonable  and 
just  authority  for  the  good  of  human  society.  This  is  a 
point  which  it  will  be  proper  to  enlarge  upon,  because  the 
question  before  us  turns  very  much  upon  the  truth  or 
falsehood  of  this  position.  It  is  obvious,  then,  in  general, 
that  the  civil  rulers  whom  the  apostle  here  speaks  of,  and 
obedience  to  whom  he  presses  upon  Christians  as  a  duty, 
are  good  rulers,""  such  as  are,  in  the  exercise  of  their  office 


a  By  "  good  rulers"  are  not  intended  such  as  are  good  in  a  moral  or  religious, 
but  only  in  a  political,  sense;  those  who  perform  their  duty  so  far  as  their  office 
extends,  and  so  far  as  civD  society,  as  such,  is  concerned  in  their  actions. l 

1  Dr.  Mayhew  may  have  liad   in  mind  the  apologies  often  made  for 


70  UNLIMITED   SUBMISSION   AND 

and  power,  benefactors  to  society.  Such  they  are  described 
to  be  throughout  this  passage.  Thus,  it  is  said  that  they 
are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil;  that  they 
are  God's  ministers  for  good ;  revengers  to  execute  wrath 
upon  him  that  doeth  evil ;  and  that  they  attend  continu- 
ally upon  this  very  thing.  St.  Peter  gives  the  same 
account  of  rulers :  They  are  "  for  a  praise  to  them  that 
do  well,  and  the  punishment  of  evil  doers."  ^  It  is  manifest 
that  this  character  and  description  of  rulers  agrees  only  to 
such  as  are  rulers  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name ;  to  such  as  gov- 
ern well,  and  act  agreeably  to  their  office.  And  the  apostle's 
argument  for  submission  to  rulers  is  wholly  built  and 
grounded  upon  a  presumption  that  they  do  in  fact  answer 
this  character,  and  is  of  no  force  at  all  upon  supposition 
of  the  contrary.  If  rulers  are  a  terror  to  good  works,  and 
not  to  the  evil ;  if  they  are  not  ministers  for  good  to 
society,  but  for  evil  and  distress,  by  violence  and  oppres- 
sion ;  if  they  execute  wrath  upon  sober,  peaceable  persons, 
who  do  their  duty  as  members  of  society,  and  suffer  rich 

a  See  notes,  pp.  57,  58. 

Charles  the  First  and  other  tyrants  —  their  good  lives  as  private  men ;  but 
certainly  he  did  not  mean  that  it  is  a  thing  of  indifference  that  bad  men 
should  be  rulers.  In  his  Election  Sermon  of  1754,  he  says  that  morals 
and  religion  "  ought  doubtless  to  be  encouraged  by  the  civil  magistrate 
by  his  own  pious  life  and  good  example."  What  is  the  security,  or  prob- 
ability, that  the  weak  or  the  bad,  in  private  life,  will  be  able  and  good 
men  in  public  life,  especially  if  it  be,  as  Hume  says,  "  that  men  are  gener- 
ally more  honest  in  a  private  than  in  a  public  capacity,  and  will  go  greater 
lengths  to  serve  a  party  than  when  their  own  private  Interest  is  alone  con- 
cerned"? "Nations  rise  and  fall  by  individuals,  not  numbers,  as  I  think 
all  history  proveth,"  said  HoUis.  It  was  the  virtue  of  Washington  only 
that  saved  the  republic,  when,  in  1782,  the  suffering  army  suggested  to 
their  leader  the  "title  of  king."  Had  his  been  a  "Zow  ambition,"  what 
then  would  have  been  our  history  ?  The  political  motto,  "  Principles,  not 
men,"  is  a  dangerous  doctrine.  The  monument  to  Pitt,  in  the  Guildhall, 
London,  was  raised  to  show  "  that  the  means  by  which  Providence  raises 
a  nation  to  greatness  are  the  virtues  infused  into  great  men." —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE  HIGHER  POWERS.  71 

and  honorable  knaves  to  escape  with  impunity;  if,  instead 
of  attending  continually  upon  the  good  work  of  advanc- 
ing the  public  welfare,  they  attend  continually  upon  the 
gratification  of  their  own  lust  and  pride  and  ambition,  to 
the  destruction  of  the  public  welfare  ;  —  if  this  be  the  case, 
it  is  plain  that  the  apostle's  argument  for  submission  does 
not  reach  them;  they  are  not  the  same,  but  different 
persons  from  those  whom  he  characterizes,  and  who  must 
be  obeyed,  according  to  his  reasoning.  Let  me  illustrate 
the  apostle's  argument  by  the  following  similitude  (it  is 
no  matter  how  far  it  is  from  anything  which  has,  in  fact, 
happened  in  the  world)  :  Suppose,  then,  it  was  allowed, 
in  general,  that  the  clergy^  were  a  useful  order  of  men ; 
that  they  ought  to  be  "  esteemed  very  highly  in  love  for 
their  works'  sake,*  and  to  be  decently  supported  by  those 
they  serve,  "  the  laborer  being  worthy  of  his  reward."  ^ 
Suppose,  further,  that  a  number  of  reverend  and  right 
reverend  drones,  who  worked  not;  who  preached,  per- 
haps, but  once  a  year,  and  then  not  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  but  the  divine  right  of  tithes,  the  dignity  of  their 
ofllce  as  ambassadors  of  Christ,  the  equity  of  sinecures 
and  a  plurality  of  benefices,  the  excellency  of  the  devo- 
tions in  that  prayer-book  which  some  of  them  hired  chap- 
lains to  use  for  them,  or  some  favorite  point  of  church- 
tyranny  and  anti-Christian  usurpation  ;  —  suppose  such 
men  as  these,  spending  their  lives  in  effeminacy,  luxury,  and 
idleness,  —  or,  when  they  were  not  idle,  doing  that  which  is 
worse  than  idleness ;  —  suppose  such  men  should,  merely 
by  the  merit  of  ordination  and  consecration,  and  a  peculiar, 

a  1  Thess.  V.  13.  b  1  Tim.  v.  18. 

1  The  Church  of  England  does  not  recognize  as  "  clergy"  any  but  its 
own  ministry,  unless  that  of  the  papal  church ;  but  at  one  time  it  was  less 
exclusive,  and  recognized  Presbyterian  ordination.  —  Hopkins's  Puritans 
and  Queen  Elizabeth,  vol.  ii.  ch.  4.  — Ed. 


72  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

odd  habit,  claim  great  respect  and  reverence  from  those 
whom  they  civilly  called  the  beasts  of  the  laity,*"  and  de- 
mand thousands  per  annum  for  that  service  which  they 
never  performed,  and  for  which,  if  they  had  performed  it, 
this  would  be  more  than  2,  quantum  meruit ; — suppose  this 
should  be  the  case  (it  is  only  by  way  of  simile,  and  surely 
it  will  give  no  offence),  would  not  everybody  be  astonished 
at  such  insolence,  injustice,  and  impiety?^  And  ought 
not  such  men  to  be  told  plainly  that  they  could  not  rea- 
sonably expect  the  esteem  and  reward  due  to  the  ministers 
of  the  gospel  unless  they  did  the  duties  of  their  office  ? 
Should  they  not  be  told  that  their  title  and  habit  claimed 
no  regard,  reverence,  or  pay,  separate  from  the  care  and 
work  and  various  duties  of  their  function  ?  —  and  that, 
while  they  neglected  the  latter,  the  former  served  only 
to  render  them  the  more  ridiculous  and  contemptible?^ 
The  application  of  this  similitude  to  the  case  in  hand  is 
very  easy.  If  those  who  bear  the  title  of  civil  rulers  do 
not  perform  the  duty  of  civil  rulers,  but  act  directly 
counter  to  the  sole  end  and  design  of  their  office ;  if  they 
injure  and  oppress  their  subjects,  instead  of  defending 
their  rights  and  doing  them  good,  they  have  not  the  least 
pretence  to  be  honored,  obeyed,  and  rewarded,  according 

a  Mr.  Leslie. 

1  Charles  Leslie,  whose  works  were  republished  at  Oxford,  in  1832,  in 
seven  volumes,  lived  from  1650  to  1722.  He  was  an  eminent  controver- 
sialist. His  expression  "  fheir  beasts,  the  laity,"  twice  quoted  by  Dr.  May- 
hew,  indicates  his  principles.  He  resigned  his  preferments  on  the  flight 
of  James  II.,  and  was  ever  a  firm  adherent  to  the  Stuarts.  He  contended 
for  absolute  power,  despotism  —  denying  all  right  in  the  people  either  to 
confer  or  coerce  government.  —  Ed. 

2  This  was  the  American  view  of  the  Chm-ch  of  England,  and  they 
loathed  the  idea  of  its  establishment  in  America,  —  a  scheme  assiduously 
prosecuted  under  pretence  of  "  propagating  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts," 
etc.  —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO    THE    HIGHER   POWERS.  73 

to  the  apostle's  argument.  For  his  reasoning,  in  order  to 
show  the  duty  of  subjection  to  the  higher  powers,  is,  as 
was  before  observed,  built  wholly  upon  the  supposition 
that  they  do,  in  fact,  perform  the  duty  of  rulers. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  apostle  here  uses  another  argument 
for  submission  to  the  higher  powers  besides  that  which  is 
taken  from  the  usefulness  of  their  office  to  civil  society 
when  properly  discharged  and  executed,  namely,  that  their 
power  is  from  God,  that  they  are  ordained  of  God,  and 
that  they  are  God's  ministers  ;  and  if  it  be  said  that  this 
argument  for  submission  to  them  will  hold  good,  although 
they  do  not  exercise  their  power  for  the  benefit,  but  for 
the  ruin  and  destruction  of  human  society,  —  this  objection 
was  obviated,  in  part,  before.''  Rulers  have  no  authority 
from  God  to  do  mischief  They  are  not  God's  ordinance, 
or  God's  ministers,  in  any  other  sense  than  as  it  is  by  his 
permission  and  providence  that  they  are  exalted  to  bear 
rule ;  and  as  magistracy  duly  exercised,  and  authority 
rightly  applied,  in  the  enacting  and  executing  good  laws, 
—  laws  attempered  and  accommodated  to  the  common 
welfare  of  the  subjects,  —  must  be  supposed  to  be  agree- 
able to  the  will  of  the  beneficent  Author  and  supreme 
Lord  of  the  universe,  whose  "  kingdom  ruleth  over  all,"  ^ 
and  whose  "tender  mercies  are  over  all  his  works." ^  It  is 
blasphemy  to  call  tyrants  and  oppressors  God's  ministers. 
They  are  more  properly  "  the  messengers  of  Satan  to 
buffet  us."*^  Xo  rulers  are  properly  God's  ministers  but 
such  as  are  "just,  ruling  in  the  fear  of  God."®  When 
once  magistrates  act  contrary  to  their  office,  and  the  end 
of  their  institution,  —  when  they  rob  and  ruin  the  public, 
instead  of  being  guardians  of  its  peace  and  welfare,  —  they 


a  See  notes,  pp.  60,  61.  c  Ts.  cxlv.  19.  e  2  Sam.  xxiii.  3. 

b  Ps.  ciii.  19.  d  2  Cor.  xii.  7. 


74  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

immediately  cease  to  be  tlie  ordinance  and  ministers  of 
God,  and  no  more  deserve  that  glorious  character  than 
common  pirates  and  highwaymen.^  So  that,  whenever 
that  argument  for  submission  fails  which  is  grounded 
upon  the  usefulness  of  magistracy  to  civil  society,  —  as  it 
always  does  wiien  magistrates  do  hurt  to  society  instead 
of  good,  —  the  other  argument,  which  is  taken  from  their 
being  the  ordinance  of  God,  must  necessarily  fail  also ;  no 
person  of  a  civil  character  being  God's  minister,  in  the 
sense  of  the  apostle,  any  further  than  he  performs  God's 
will  by  exercising  a  just  and  reasonable  authority,  and 
ruling  for  the  good  of  the  subject. 

This  in  general.  Let  us  now  trace  the  apostle's  reason- 
ing in  favor  of  submission  to  the  higher  powers  a  little 
more  particularly  and  exactly ;  for  by  this  it  will  appear, 
on  one  hand,  how  good  and  conclusive  it  is  for  submission 
to  those  rulers  who  exercise  their  power  in  a  proper  man- 
ner, and,  on  the  other,  how  weak  and  trifling  and  incon- 
nected  it  is  if  it  be  supposed  to  be  meant  by  the  apostle 
to  show  the  obligation  and  duty  of  obedience  to  tyranni- 
cal, oppressive  rulers,  in  common  with  others  of  a  different 
character. 

The  apostle  enters  upon  his  subject  thus :  "  Let  every 
soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers ;  for  there  is  no 
power  but  of  God :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 

1  Parallel  with  this  is  Milton's  distinction,  where  he  says :  "  If  I  inveigh 
against  tyrants,  what  is  this  to  kings  ?  whom  I  am  far  from  associating 
with  tyrants.  As  much  as  an  honest  man  differs  from  a  rogue,  so  much  I 
contend  that  a  king  differs  from  a  tyrant.  Whence  it  is  clear  that  a  tyrant 
is  so  far  from  being  a  king,  that  he  is  always  in  direct  opposition  to  a 
king." — The  Second  Defence.  James  I.,  in  1603  and  1G09,  in  his  speeches 
to  parliament,  said :  "  A  king  ceases  to  be  a  king,  and  degenerates  into  a 
tyrant,  as  soon  as  he  leaves  off  to  rule  according  to  his  laws."  And  Locke, 
of  "Civil  Government,"  says:  ''Wheresoever  the  authority  ceases,  the  king 
ceases  too,  and  becomes  like  other  men  who  have  no  authority." — Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO    THE   HIGUER   POWERS.  7d 

God."  •*  Here  he  urges  tlie  duty  of  obedience  from  this 
topic  of  argument :  that  civil  rulers,  as  they  are  supposed 
to  fulfil  the  pleasure  of  God,  are  the  ordinance  of  God. 
But  how  is  this  an  argument  for  obedience  to  such  rulers 
as  do  not  perform  the  pleasure  of  God  by  doing  good,  but 
the  pleasure  of  the  devil  by  doing  evil ;  and  such  as  are 
not,  therefore,  God's  ministers,  but  the  devil's  ?  "  Whoso- 
ever, therefore,  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance 
of  God ;  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves 
damnation."^  Here  the  apostle  argues  that  those  who 
resist  ^a  reasonable  and  just  authority,  which  is  agreeable  to 
the  will  of  God,  do  really  resist  the  will  of  God  himself, 
and  will,  therefore,  be  punished  by  him.  But  how  does 
this  prove  that  those  who  resist  a  lawless,  unreasonable 
power,  which  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,^  do  therein 
resist  the  will  and  ordinance  of  God  ?  Is  resisting  those 
who  resist  God's  will  the  same  thing  with  resisting  God  ? 
Or  shall  those  who  do  so  "  receive  to  themselves  damna- 
tion ?  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to 
the  evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power? 
Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the 
same.  For  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good."  ^ 
Here  the  apostle  argues,  more  explicitly  than  he  had 
before  done,  for  revering  and  submitting  to  magistracy, 
from  this  consideration,  that  such  as  really  performed  the 

a  Rom.  xiii.  1.  b  Eom.  xiii.  2.  c  Kom.  xiii.  3,  4 

1  This  lesson  was  well  conned :  hear  one  of  Dr.  Mayhew's  disciples,  John 
Adams,  twenty -five  years  afterward,  in  1775,  in  defence  of  resistance  to  the 
despotism  of  the  British  Parliament :  "  We  are  not  exciting  rebellion.  Op- 
position, nay,  open,  avowed  resistance  by  ai-ms  against  usurpation  and  law- 
less violence,  is  not  rebellion  by  the  law  of  God  or  the  land.  Resistance  to 
lawful  authority  makes  rebellion.  Hampden,  Russell,  Sydney,  Soraers, 
Holt,  Tillotson,  Burnet,  Hoadley,  etc.,  were  no  tyrants  nor  rebels,  although 
some  of  them  were  in  arms,  and  the  others  undoubtedly  excited  resistance 
airainst  the  tories." —  Ed. 


76  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

duty  of  magistrates  would  be  enemies  only  to  the  evil 
actions  of  men,  and  would  befriend  and  encourage  the 
good,  and  so  be  a  common  blessing  to  society.  But  how 
is  this  an  argument  that  we  must  honor  and  submit  to  such 
magistrates  as  are  not  enemies  to  the  evil  actions  of  men, 
but  to  the  good,  and  such  as  are  not  a  common  blessing, 
but  a  common  curse  to  society?  "But  if  thou  do  that 
which  is  evil,  be  afraid  :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a 
revenger,  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doth  evil.""* 
Here  the  apostle  argues,  from  the  nature  and  end  of 
magistracy,  that  such  as  did  evil,  and  such  only,  had  rea- 
son to  be  afraid  of  the  higher  powers ;  it  being  part  of 
their  office  to  punish  evil-doers,  no  less  than  to  defend  and 
encourage  such  as  do  well.  But  if  magistrates  are  un- 
righteous, —  if  they  are  respecters  of  persons,  —  if  they  are 
partial  in  their  administration  of  justice,  —  then  those  who 
do  well  have  as  much  reason  to  be  afraid  as  those  that  do 
evil :  there  can  be  no  safety  for  the  good,  nor  any  peculiar 
ground  of  terror  to  the  unruly  and  injurious  ;  so  that,  in 
this  case,  the  main  end  of  civil  government  will  be  frus- 
trated. And  what  reason  is  there  for  submitting  to  that 
government  which  does  by  no  means  answer  the  design 
of  government  ?  "  Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be  subject 
not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  conscience'  sake."  ^  Here 
the  apostle  argues  the  duty  of  a  cheerful  and  conscientious 
submission  to  civil  government  from  the  nature  and  end 
of  magistracy,  as  he  had  before  laid  it  down ;  ^.  e.,  as  the 
design  of  it  was  to  punish  evil-doers,  and  to  support  and 
encourage  such  as  do  well;  and  as  it  must,  if  so  exercised, 
be  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God.  But  how  does  what  he 
here  says  prove  the  duty  of  a  cheerful  and  conscientious 
subjection  to  those  who  forfeit  the  character  of  rulers  ?  —  to 

«Rom   xiii.  4.  b  Rom.  xiii.  5. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  77 

those  who  encourage  the  bad  and  discourage  the  good  ? 
The  argument  here  used  no  more  proves  it  to  be  a  sin 
to  resist  such  rulers  than  it  does  to  resist  the  devil, 
that  he  may  flee  from  us.'^  For  one  is  as  truly  the  min- 
ister of  God  as  the  other.  "For,  for  this  cause  pay 
you  tribute  also;  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  attend- 
ing continually  upon  this  very  thing."  ^  Here  the  apos- 
tle argues  the  duty  of  paying  taxes  from  this  consid- 
eration, that  those  who  perform  the  duty  of  rulers  are 
continually  attending  upon  the  public  welfare.  But  how 
does  this  argument  conclude  for  paying  taxes  to  such 
princes  as  are  continually  endeavoring  to  ruin  the  public ; 
and  especially  when  such  payment  would  facilitate  and 
promote  this  wicked  design  ?  "  Render  therefore  to  all 
their  dues  ;  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  custom  to 
whom  custom ;  fear  to  whom  fear;  honor  to  whom  honor."  *^ 
Here  the  apostle  sums  up  what  he  has  been  saying  con- 
cerning the  duty  of  subjects  to  rulers  ;  and  his  argument 
stands  thus :  "  Since  magistrates  who  execute  their  office 
well  are  common  benefactors  to  society,  and  may  in  that 
respect  properly  be  called  the  ministers  and  ordinance 
of  God,  and  since  they  are  constantly  employed  in  the 
service  of  the  public,  it  becomes  you  to  pay  them  tribute 
and  custom,  and  to  reverence,  honor,  and  submit  to  them 
in  the  execution  of  their  respective  offices."  This  is 
apparently  good  reasoning.  But  does  this  argument  con- 
clude for  the  duty  of  jDaying  tribute,  custom,  reverence, 
honor,  and  obedience  to  such  2:)ersons  as,  although  they 
bear  the  title  of  rulers,  use  all  their  power  to  hurt  and 
injure  the  public?  —  such  as  are  not  God's  ministers,  but 
Satan's  ?  such  as  do  not  take  care  of  and  attend  upon  the 
public  interest,  but  their  own,  to  the  ruin  of  the  public? 
—  that  is,  in  short,  to  such  as  have  no  just  claim  at  all  to 

a  James  iv.  7.  b  Rom.  xiii.  6.  c  Rom.  xiii.  7. 

7* 


78  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

tribute,  custom,  reverence,  honor,  and  obedience  ?  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  those  who  have  any  regard  to  the  apostle's 
character  as  an  inspired  writer,  or  even  as  a  man  of  com- 
mon understanding,  will  not  represent  him  as  reasoning  in 
such  a  loose,  incoherent  manner,  and  drawing  conclusions 
which  have  not  the  least  relation  to  his  premises.  For 
what  can  be  more  absurd  than  an  argument  thus  framed ; 
"  Rulers  are,  by  their  office,  bound  to  consult  the  public 
welfare  and  the  good  of  society ;  therefore,  you  are  bound 
to  pay  them  tribute,  to  honor,  and  to  submit  to  them,  even 
when  they  destroy  the  public  welfare,  and  are  a  common 
pest  to  society  by  acting  in  direct  contradiction  to  the 
nature  and  end  of  their  office"? 

Thus,  upon  a  careful  review  of  the  apostle's  reasoning 
in  this  passage,  it  appears  that  his  arguments  to  enforce 
submission  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  conclude  only  in 
favor  of  submission  to  such  rulers  as  he  himself  describes ; 
i.  e.,  such  as  rule  for  the  good  of  society,  which  is  the  only 
end  of  their  institution.  Common  tyrants  and  public 
oppressors  are  not  entitled  to  obedience  from  their  sub- 
jects by  virtue  of  anything  here  laid  down  by  the  insj^ired 
apostle. 

I  now  add,  further,  that  the  apostle's  argument  is  so 
far  from  proving  it  to  be  the  duty  of  people  to  obey  and 
submit  to  such  rulers  as  act  in  contradiction  to  the  public 
good,""  and  so  to  the  design  of  their  office,  that  it  proves 
the  direct  contrary.  For,  please  to  observe,  that  if  the 
end  of  all  civil  government  be  the  good  of  society ;  if  this 
be  the  thing  that  is  aimed  at  in  constituting  civil  rulers ; 
and  if  the  motive  and  argument  for  submission  to  gov- 
ernment be  taken    from  the  apparent  usefulness  of  civil 

a  This  does  not  intend  their  acting  so  in  a  few  particular  instances,  which  the 
best  of  rulers  may  do  through  mistake,  etc.,  but  their  acting  so  habitually,  and 
in  a  manner  which  plainly  shows  that  they  aim  at  making  themselves  great  by  the 
ruiu  of  their  subjects. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  79 

authority,  —  it  follows,  that  when  no  such  good  end  can 
be  answered  by  submission,  there  remains  no  argument  or 
motive  to  enforce  it ;  and  if,  instead  of  this  good  end's 
being  brought  about  by  submission,  a  contrary  end  is 
brought  about,  and  the  ruin  and  misery  of  society  effected 
by  it,  here  is  a  phiin  and  positive  reason  against  submis- 
sion in  all  such  cases,  should  they  ever  happen.  And 
therefore,  in  such  cases,  a  regard  to  the  public  welfare 
ought  to  make  us  withhold  from  our  rulers  that  obedience 
and  submission  which  it  would  otherwise  be  our  duty  to 
render  to  them.  If  it  be  our  duty,  for  example,  to  obey 
.  our  king  merely  for  this  reason,  that  he  rules  for  the  public 
welfare  (which  is  the  only  argument  the  apostle  makes  use 
of),  it  follows,  by  a  parity  of  reason,  that  when  he  turns 
tyrant,  and  makes  his  subjects  his  prey  to  devour  and 
destroy,  instead  of  his  charge  to  defend  and  cherish,  we 
are  bound  to  throw  off  our  allegiance  to  him,  and  to  resist; 
and  that  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  apostle's  argument 
in  this  passage.  Not  to  discontinue  our  allegiance  in  this 
case  would  be  to  join  Avith  the  sovereign  in  promoting  the 
slavery  and  misery  of  that  society,  the  welfare  of  which 
we  ourselves,  as  well  as  our  sovereign,  are  indispensably 
obliged  to  secure  and  promote,  as  far  as  in  us  lies.  It  is 
true  the  apostle  puts  no  case  of  such  a  tyrannical  prince ; 
but,  by  his  grounding  his  argument  for  submission  wholly 
upon  the  good  of  civil  society,  it  is  plain  he  implicitly 
authorizes,  and  even  requires  us  to  make  resistance,  when- 
ever this  shall  be  necessary  to  the  public  safety  and  happi- 
ness. Let  me  make  use  of  this  easy  and  familiar  similitude 
to  illustrate  the  point  in  hand :  Suppose  God  requires  a 
family  of  children  to  obey  their  father  and  not  to  resist 
him,  and  enforces  his  command  with  this  argument,  that 
the  superintendence  and  care  and  authority  of  a  just  and 
kind  parent  will  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  the  whole 


80  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION  AND 

family,  so  that  they  ought  to  obey  him  for  their  own  sakes 
more  than  for  his ;  suppose  this  parent  at  length  runs 
distracted,  and  attempts  in  his  mad  fit  to  cut  all  his  chil- 
dren's throats.  Now,  in  this  case,  is  not  the  reason  before 
assigned  why  these  children  should  obey  their  parent 
while  he  continued  of  a  sound  mind  —  namely,  their  com- 
mon good  —  a  reason  equally  conclusive  for  disobeying  and 
resisting  him,  since  he  is  become  delirious  and  attempts 
their  ruin  ?  It  makes  no  alteration  in  the  argument 
whether  this  parent,  properly  speaking,  loses  his  reason, 
or  does,  while  he  retains  his  understanding,  that  which  is 
as  fatal  in  its  consequences  as  anything  he  could  do  were 
he  really  deprived  of  it.  This  similitude  needs  no  formal 
application. 

But  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  if  the  duty  of  uni- 
versal obedience  and  non-resistance  to  our  king  or  prince 
can  be  argued  from  this  passage,  the  same  unlimited  sub- 
mission, under  a  republican  or  any  other  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  even  to  all  the  subordinate  powers  in  any 
particular  state,  can  be  proved  by  it  as  well,  which  is  more 
than  those  who  allege  it  for  the  mentioned  purpose  would 
be  willing  should  be  inferred  from  it ;  so  that  this  passage 
does  not  answer  their  purpose,  but  really  overthrow's  and 
confutes  it.  This  matter  deserves  to  be  more  particularly 
considered.  The  advocates  for  unlimited  submission  and 
passive  obedience  do,  if  I  mistake  not,  always  speak  with 
reference  to  kingly  and  monarchical  government  as  distin- 
guished from  all  other  forms,  and  with  reference  to  sub- 
mitting to  the  will  of  the  king  in  distinction  from  all 
subordinate  officers  acting  beyond  their  commission  and 
the  authority  which  they  have  received  from  the  crown. 
It  is  not  pretended  that  any  persons  besides  kings  have  a 
divine  right  to  do  what  they  please,  so  that  no  one  may 
resist  them  without  incurring  the  guilt  of  factiousness  and 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO    THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  81 

rebellioD.  If  any  other  powers  oppress  the  people,  it  is 
generally  allowed  that  the  people  may  get  redress  by 
resistance,  if  other  methods  prove  ineffectual.  And  if  any 
officers  in  a  kingly  government  go  beyond  the  limits  of 
that  power  which  they  have  derived  from  the  crown  (the 
supposed  original  source  of  all  power  and  authority  in  the 
state),  and  attempt  illegally  to  take  away  the  properties 
and  lives  of  their  fellow-subjects,  they  may  be  forcibly 
resisted,  at  least  till  application  can  be  made  to  the  crown. 
But  as  to  the  sovereign  himself,  he  may  not  be  resisted  in 
any  case,  nor  any  of  his  officers,  while  they  confine  them- 
selves within  the  bounds  which  he  has  prescribed  to  them. 
This  is,  I  think,  a  true  sketch  of  the  principles  of  those  who 
defend  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resist- 
ance. IRow,  there  is  nothing  in  Scripture  which  supports 
this  scheme  of  political  principles.  As  to  the  passage 
under  consideration,  the  apostle  here  speaks  of  civil  rulers 
in  general,  —  of  all  persons  in  common  vested  with  au- 
thority for  the  good  of  society,  without  any  particular 
reference  to  one  form  of  government  more  than  to  another, 
or  to  the  supreme  power  in  any  particular  state  more  than 
to  subordinate  powers.  The  apostle  does  not  concern 
himself  with  the  different  forms  of  government.*     This  he 


a  The  essence  of  government  (I  mean  good  government,  and  this  is  the  only 
government  which  the  apostle  treats  of  in  this  passage)  consists  in  the  making 
and  executing  of  good  laws  —  laws  attempered  to  the  common  felicity  of  the 
governed.  And  if  this  be,  in  fact,  done,  it  is  evidently  in  itself  a  thing  of  no 
consequence  at  all  what  the  particular  form  of  government  is; — whether  the 
legislative  and  executive  power  be  lodged  in  one  and  the  same  person,  or  in  dif- 
ferent persons;  whether  in  one  person,  whom  we  call  an  absolute  monarch; 
whether  in  a  few,  so  as  to  constitute  an  aristocracy;  whether  in  many,  so  as  to 
constitute  a  republic;  or  whether  in  three  coordinate  branches,  in  such  manner 
as  to  make  the  government  partake  something  of  each  of  these  forms,  and  to  be, 
at  the  same  time,  essentially  different  from  them  all.  If  the  end  be  attained,  it 
is  enough.  But  no  form  of  government  seems  so  unlikely  to  accomplish  this 
end  as  absolute  monarchy.  Nor  is  there  any  one  that  has  so  little  pretence  to  a 
divine  original,  unless  it  be  in  this  sense,  that  God  first  introduced  it  into,  and 
thereby  overturned,  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  as  a  curse  upon  that  people  for 


82  UNLIMITED   SUBMISSION   AND 

supposes  left  entirely  to  human  prudence  and  discretion. 
Now,  the  consequence  of  this  is,  that  unlimited  and  passive 
obedience  is  no  more  enjoined  in  this  passage  under  mon- 
archical government,  or  to  the  supreme  j^ower  in  any  state, 
than  under  all  other  species  of  government  which  answer 
the  end  of  government,  or  to  all  the  subordinate  degrees 
of  civil  authority,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  Those, 
therefore,  who  would  from  this  passage  infer  the  guilt  of 
resisting  kings  in  all  cases  whatever,  though  acting  ever 
so  contrary  to  the  design  of  their  office,  must,  if  they  will 
be  consistent,  go  much  further,  and  infer  from  it  the  guilt 
of  resistance  under  all  other  forms  of  government,  and  of 
resisting  any  petty  officer  in  the  state,  though  acting 
beyond  his  commission  in  the  most  arbitrary,  illegal 
manner  possible.  The  argument  holds  equally  strong  in 
both  cases.  All  civil  rulers,  as  such,  are  the  ordinance 
and  ministers  of  God,  and  they  are  all,  by  the  nature  of 
their  office,  and  in  their  respective  spheres  and  stations, 
bound  to  consult  the  public  welfare.  With  the  same  rea- 
son, therefore,  that  any  deny  unlimited  and  passive  obedi- 
ence to  be  here  enjoined  under  a  republic  or  aristocracy,  or 
any  other  established  form  of  civil  government,  or  to  sub- 
ordinate powers  acting  in  an  illegal  and  oppressive  manner; 
with  the  same  reason  others  may  deny  that  such  obedi- 
ence is  enjoined  to  a  king  or  monarch,  or  any  civil  power 
whatever.  For  the  apostle  says  nothing  that  is,  peculiar  to 
kings  ;  what  he  says  extends  equally  to  all  other  persons 
whatever  vested  with  any  civil  office.  They  are  all,  in 
exactly  the  same  sense,  the  ordinance  of  God  and  the 
ministers  of  God,  and  obedience  is  equally  enjoined  to  be 
paid  to  them  all.     For,  as  the  apostle  expresses  it,  there  is 


their  folly  and  wickedness,  particularly  in  desiring  such  a  government.  (See 
1  Sam.  eh.  viii.)  Just  so  God  before  sent  quails  amongst  them,  as  a  j^lague  and  a 
curse,  and  not  as  a  blessing.    Numb.  ch.  xi. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  83 

no  power  but  of  God ;  and  we  are  required  to  render  to  all 
their  dues^  and  not  more  than  their  dues.  And  what  these 
dues  are,  and  to  whom  they  are  to  be  rendered,  the  apostle 
saith  not,  but  leaves  to  the  reason  and  consciences  of  men 
to  determine. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  common  argument  grounded 
upon  this  jDassage  in  fiivor  of  universal  and  passive  obedi- 
ence really  overthrows  itself,  by  proving  too  much,  if  it 
proves  anything  at  all,  —  namely,  that  no  civil  officer  is,  in 
any  case  whatever,  to  be  resisted,  though  acting  in  express 
contradiction  to  the  design  of  his  office, — Avhich  no  man  in 
his  senses  ever  did  or  can  assert. 

If  we  calmly  consider  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself, 
nothing  can  well  be  imagined  more  directly  contrary  to 
common  sense  than  to  suppose  that  millions  of  people 
should  be  subjected  to  the  arbitrary,  precarious  j^leasure 
of  one  single  man,  —  who  has  naturally  no  superiority  over 
them  in  point  of  authority, —  so  that  their  estates,  and 
everything  that  is  valuable  in  life,  and  even  their  lives 
also,  shall  be  absolutely  at  his  disposal,  if  he  happens  to  be 
wanton  and  capricious  enough  to  demand  them.  What 
unprejudiced  man  can  think  that  God  made  all  to  be  thus 
subservient  to  the  lawless  pleasure  and  frenzy  of  one^  so 

1  This  will  suggest  to  many  readers  Milton's  noble  passage :  "  Our  liberty 
is  not  Caesar's;  it  is  a  blessing  we  ha^'e  received  from  God  himself;  it 
is  what  we  are  born  to ;  to  lay  down  this  at  Caesar's  feet,  which  we  derive 
not  from  him,  which  we  are  not  beholden  to  him  for,  were  an  unworthy 
action,  and  a  degrading  of  our  very  nature.  If  one  should  consider 
attentively  the  countenance  of  a  man,  and  inquire  after  whose  image  so 
noble  a  creature  were  framed,  would  not  any  one  that  heard  him  presently 
make  answer,  that  he  was  made  after  the  image  of  God  himself?  Being, 
therefore,  peculiarly  God's  own,  and  consequently  things  that  are  to  be 
given  to  him,  we  are  entirely  free  by  nature,  and  cannot  without  the  great- 
est sacrilege  imaginable  be  reduced  into  a  condition  of  slavery  to  any  man, 
especially  to  a  wicked,  unjust,  cruel  tyrant."— Defence  of  the  People  of 
England.  —  Ed. 


84  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

that  it  shall  always  be  a  sin  to  resist  him  ?  ]^othing  but 
the  most  plain  and  express  revelation  from  heaven  could 
make  a  sober,  impartial  man  believe  such  a  monstrous, 
unaccountable  doctrine ;  and,  indeed,  the  thing  itself  ap- 
pears so  shocking,  so  out  of  all  proportion,  that  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  all  the  miracles  that  ever  were  wrought 
could  make  it  credible  that  this  doctrine  really  came  from 
God.  At  present  there  is  not  the  least  syllable  in  Scripture 
which  gives  any  countenance  to  it.  The  hereditary,  inde- 
feasible, divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  doctrine  of  non- 
resistance,  which  is  built  upon  the  supposition  of  B«ch  a 
right,  are  altogether  as  fabulous  and  chimerical  as  tran- 
substantiation,  or  any  of  the  most  absurd  reveries  of  an- 
cient or  modern  visionaries.  These  notions  are  fetched 
neither  from  divine  revelation  nor  human  reason ;  and,  if 
they  are  derived  from  neither  of  those  sources,  it  is  not 
much  matter  from  whence  they  come  or  whither  they  go. 
Only  it  is  a  pity  that  such  doctrines  should  be  propagated 
in  society,  to  raise  factions  and  rebellions,^  as  we  see  they 
have,  in  fact,  been,  both  in  the  last  and  in  the  j^resent 
reign. 

But,  then,  if  unlimited  submission  and  passive  obedience 
to  the  higher  powers,  in  all  possible  cases,  be  not  a  duty, 
it  will  be  asked,  "  How  far  are  we  obliged  to  submit  ?  If 
we  may  innocently  disobey  and  resist  in  some  cases,  why 
not  in  all  ?  Where  shall  we  stop  ?  What  is  the  measure 
of  our  duty?     This  doctrine  tends  to  the  total  dissolution 

1  As,  for  instance,  those  of  the  high-church,  divine-right  party,  in  1714, 
1715,  which  occasioned  the  Riot  Act,  the  law  of  the  land  to  this  day. 
"Down  with  the  Roundheads!  God  bless  Dr.  Sacheverell!  "  was  their  cry 
when  they  destroyed  the  meeting-houses  of  the  dissenters ;  and  their  vio- 
lences were  unprecedented.  They  sought  to  replace  the  Stuarts,  as  at 
Preston,  Nov.  13,  1715,  and  at  Culloden  Moor,  April  16,  1746.  These  will 
call  to  mind  Campbell's  celebrated  poem,  "Lochiel's  Warning,"  and 
Scott's  romance,  "  Waverley."—  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO    THE   HIGHER  POWERS.  85 

of  civil  government,  and  to  introduce  such  scenes  of  wild 
anarchy  and  confusion  as  are  more  fatal  to  society  than 
the  worst  of  tyranny." 

After  this  manner  some  men  object ;  and,  indeed,  this  is 
the  most  plausible  thing  that  can  be  said  in  favor  of  such 
an  absolute  submission  as  they  plead  for.  But  the  worst, 
or,  rather,  the  best  of  it  is,  that  there  is  very  little  strength 
or  solidity  in  it ;  for  similar  difficulties  may  be  raised  with 
respect  to  almost  every  duty  of  natural  and  revealed  reli- 
gion. To  instance  only  in  two,  both  of  which  are  near 
akin,  and  indeed  exactly  parallel  to  the  case  before  us :  It 
is  unquestionably  the  duty  of  children  to  submit  to  their 
parents,  and  of  servants  to  their  masters  ;  but  no  one  as- 
serts that  it  is  their  duty  to  obey  and  submit  to  them  in 
all  supposable  cases,  or  universally  a  sin  to  resist  them. 
Now,  does  this  tend  to  subvert  the  just  authority  of  pa- 
rents and  masters,  or  to  introduce  confusion  and  anarchy 
into  jDrivate  families  ?  No.  How,  then,  does  the  same 
principle  tend  to  unhinge  the  government  of  that  larger 
family  the  body  politic  ?  We  knoAV,  in  general,  that  chil- 
dren and  servants  are  obliged  to  obey  their  parents  and 
masters  respectively ;  we  know  also,  with  equal  certainty, 
that  they  are  not  obliged  to  submit  to  them  in  all  things 
without  exception,  but  may,  in  some  cases,  reasonably,  and 
therefore  innocently,  resist  them.  These  princij^les  arQ 
acknowledged  upon  all  hands,  whatever  difficulty  there 
may  be  in  fixing  the  exact  limits  of  submission.  Now, 
there  is  at  least  as  much  difficulty  in  stating  the  measure 
of  duty  in  these  two  cases  as  in  the  case  of  rulers  and 
subjects ;  so  that  this  is  really  no  objection  —  at  least,  no 
reasonable  one  —  against  resistance  to  the  higher  powers. 
Or,  if  it  is  one,  it  will  hold  equally  against  resistance  in  the 
other  cases  mentioned.  It  is  indeed  true,  that  turbulent, 
vicious-minded  men  may  take  occasion,  from  this  princi- 

8 


86  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

pie  that  their  rulers  may  in  some  cases  be  lawfully  resisted, 
to  raise  factions  and  disturbances  in  the  state,  and  to  make 
resistance  where  resistance  is  needless,  and  therefore  sin- 
ful. But  is  it  not  equally  true  that  children  and  servants, 
of  turbulent,  vicious  minds,  may  take  occasion,  from  this 
principle  that  parents  and  masters  may  in  some  cases  be 
lawfully  resisted,  to  resist  when  resistance  is*  unnecessary, 
and  therefore  criminal?  Is  the  principle,  in  either  case, 
false  in  itself  merely  because  it  may  be  abused,  and  applied 
to  legitimate  disobedience  and  resistance  in  those  instances 
to  which  it  ought  not  to  be  applied?  According  to  this 
way  of  arguing,  there  will  be  no  true  principles  in  the 
world ;  for  there  are  none  but  what  may  be  wrested  and 
perverted  to  serve  bad  purposes,  either  through  the  weak- 
ness or  wickedness  of  men.*^ 


a  We  may  very  safely  assert  these  two  things  in  general,  without  undermining 
government:  One  is,  that  no  civil  rulers  are  to  be  obeyed  when  they  enjoin 
things  that  are  inconsistent  with  the  commands  of  God.  All  such  disobedience 
is  lawful  and  glorious;  particularly  if  persons  refuse  to  comply  with  any  legal 
establishment  of  religion,  because  it  is  a  gross  perversion  and  corruption  — as  to 
doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline  —  of  a  pure  and  divine  religion,  brought  from 
heaven  to  earth  by  the  Son  of  God,  —  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the  Christian 
church,  — and  propagated  through  the  world  by  his  inspired  apostles.  All  com- 
mands running  counter  to  the  declared  will  of  the  Supreme  Legislator  of  heaven 
and  earth  are  null  and  void,  and  therefore  disobedience  to  them  is  a  duty,  not 
a  crime.  (See  note  a,  p.  58.)  Another  thing  that  may  be  asserted  with  equal 
truth  and  safety  is,  that  no  government  is  to  be  submitted  to  at  the  expense 
of  that  which  is  the  sole  end  of  all  government— the  common  good  and  safety 
of  society.  Because,  to  submit  in  this  case,  if  it  should  ever  happen,  would  evi- 
dently be  to  set  up  the  means  as  more  valuable  and  above  the  end,  than  which 
there  cannot  be  a  greater  solecism  and  contradiction.  The  only  reason  of  the  in- 
stitution of  civil  government,  and  the  only  rational  ground  of  submission  to  it, 
is  the  common  safety  and  utility.  If,  therefore,  in  any  case,  the  common  safety 
and  utility  would  not  be  promoted  by  submission  to  government,  but  the  con- 
trary, there  is  no  ground  or  motive  for  obedience  and  submission,  but  for  the 
contrary. 

Whoever  considers  the  nature  of  civil  government,  must  indeed  be  sensible 
that  a  great  degree  of  implicit  confidence  must  unavoidably  be  placed  in  those 
that  bear  rule  :  this  is  implied  in  the  very  notion  of  authority's  being  originally 
a  trust  committed  by  the  people  to  those  who  are  vested  with  it,  —  as  all  just  and 
righteous  authority  is.  All  besides  is  mere  lawless  force  and  usurpation  ;  neither 
God  nor  nature  having  given  any  man  a  right  of  dominion  over  any  society 
independently  of  that  society's  approbation  and  consent  to  be  governed  by  him. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  87 

A  people,  really  oppressed  in  a  great  degree  by  their 
sovereign,  cannot  well  be  insensible  when  they  are  so  op- 
pressed ;  and  such  a  people  —  if  I  may  allude  to  an  ancient 
fable  —  have,  like  the  hesperian  fruit,  a  dragon  for  their 


Now,  as  all  men  are  fallible,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  public  affairs  of  any 
state  should  be  always  administered  in  the  best  manner  possible,  even  by  persons 
of  the  greatest  wisdom  and  integrity.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  legitimate  disobe- 
dience to  the  higher  powers  that  they  are  not  so  administered,  or  that  they  are  in 
some  instances  very  ill-managed;  for,  upon  this  principle,  it  is  scarcely  suppos- 
able  that  any  government  at  all  could  be  supported,  or  subsist.  Such  a  princi- 
ple manifestly  tends  to  the  dissolution  of  government,  and  to  throw  all  things 
into  confusion  and  anarchy.  But  it  is  equally  evident,  upon  the  other  hand, 
that  those  in  authority  may  abuse  their  trust  and  power  to  such  a  degree,  that 
neither  the  law  of  reason  nor  of  religion  requires  that  any  obedience  or  submis- 
sion should  be  paid  to  them;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  should  be  totally 
discarded,  and  the  authority  which  they  were  before  vested  with  transferred  to 
others,  who  may  exercise  it  more  to  those  good  purposes  for  which  it  is  given. 
Nor  is  this  principle,  that  resistance  to  the  higher  powers  is  in  some  extraordi- 
nary cases  justifiable,  so  liable  to  abuse  as  many  persons  seem  to  apprehend  it. 
For,  although  there  will  be  always  some  petulant,  querulous  men  in  every  state, 
—  men  of  factious,  turbulent,  and  carping  dispositions,  glad  to  lay  hold  of  any 
trifle  to  justify  and  legitimate  their  caballing  against  their  rulers,  and  other  se- 
ditious practices,  —  yet  there  are,  comparatively  speaking,  but  few  men  of  this 
contemptible  character.  It  does  not  appear  but  that  mankind  in  general  have  a 
disposition  to  be  as  submissive  and  passive  and  tame  under  government  as  they 
ought  to  be.  Witness  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  part  of  the  known  world,  who 
are  now  groaning,  but  not  murmuring,  under  the  heavy  yoke  of  tyranny  ! 
While  those  who  govern  do  it  with  any  tolerable  degree  of  moderation  and  jus- 
tice, and  in  any  good  measure  act  up  to  their  office  and  character  by  being 
public  benefactors,  the  people  will  generally  be  easy  and  peaceable,  and  be 
rather  inclined  to  flatter  and  adore  than  to  insult  and  resist  them.  Nor  was 
there  ever  any  general  complaint  against  any  administration,  which  lasted  long, 
but  what  there  was  good  reason  for.  Till  people  find  themselves  greatly  abused 
and  oppressed  by  their  governors,  they  are  not  apt  to  complain ;  and  whenever 
they  do,  in  fact,  find  themselves  thus  abused  and  oppressed,  they  must  be  stupid 
not  to  complain.  To  say  that  subjects  in  general  are  not  proper  judges  when 
their  governors  oppress  them  and  play  the  tyrant,  and  when  they  defend  their 
rights,  administer  justice  impartially,  and  promote  the  public  welfare,  is  as  great 
treason  as  ever  man  uttered.  'Tis  treason,  not  against  one  single  man,  but  the 
state —  against  the  whole  body  politic;  'tis  treason  against  mankind,  -tis  treason 
against  common  sense,  'tis  treason  against  God.  And  this  impious  principle 
lays  the  foundation  for  justifying  all  the  tyranny  and  oppression  that  ever  any 
prince  was  guilty  of.  The  people  know  for  what  end  they  set  up  and  maintain 
their  governors,  and  they  are  the  proper  judges  when  they  execute  their  trust  as 
they  ought  to  do  it ;  —  when  their  prince  exercises  an  equitable  and  paternal 
authority  over  them;  when  from  a  prince  and  common  father  he  exalts  himself 
into  a  tyrant  ;  when  from  subjects  and  children  he  degrades  them  into  the  class 
of  slaves,  plunders  them,  makes  them  his  prey,  and  unnaturally  sports  himself 
with  their  lives  and  fortunes. 


88  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

protector  and  guardian.  Nor  would  they  have  any  reason 
to  mourn  if  some  Hercules  should  appear  to  dispatch  him. 
For  a  nation  thus  abused  to  arise  unanimously  and  resist 
their  prince,  even  to  the  dethroning  him,  is  not  criminal, 
but  a  reasonable  way  of  vindicating  their  Hberties  and 
just  rights:  it  is  making  use  of  the  means,  and  the  only 
means,  which  God  has  put  into  their  power  for  mutual  and 
self  defence.  And  it  would  be  highly  criminal  in  them  not 
to  make  use  of  this  means.  It  would  be  stupid  tameness 
and  unaccountable  folly  for  whole  nations  to  suffer  one 
unreasonable,  ambitious,  and  cruel  man  to  wanton  and 
riot  in  their  misery.  And  in  such  a  case,  it  would,  of  tlie 
two,  be  more  rational  to  suppose  that  they  that  did  not 
resist,  than  that  they  who  did,  would  receive  to  them- 
selves damnation. 

And  this  naturally  brings  us  to  make  some  reflections 
upon  the  resistance  which  was  made,  about  a  century  since, 
to  that  unhappy  prince  King  Cliarles  I.,  and  upon  the  an- 
niversary of  Iiis  death.  This  is  a  point  which  I  should  not 
have  concerned  myself  about,  were  it  not  thatf  some  men 
continue  to  speak  of  it,  even  to  this  day,^  with  a  great 
deal  of  warmth  and  zeal,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  un- 
dermine all  the  principles  of  liberty,  whether  civil  or  reli- 
gious, and  to  introduce  the  most  abject  slaveiy  both  in 
church  and  state  —  so  that  it  is  become  a  matter  of  univer- 
sal concern.  AYhat  I  have  to  oiFer  upon  this  subject  will 
be  comprised  in  a  short  answer  to  the  following  queries, 
viz. : 

1  "  The  Episcopalians  in  New  England,  as  well  as  the  parent  kin<?dom, 
regarded  this  anniversary  as  a  sacred  day,  and  observed  it  as  a  fast. 
They  took  occasion  not  only  to  dwell  on  the  great  injustice  done  to  the 
king  in  person,  and  the  outrage,  as  they  called  it,  committed  against  the 
crown,  but  to  exalt  and  glorify  Episcopacy  and  monarchy,  and  to  abuse 
both  Republicans  and  Puritans."  —  Dr.  Bradford's  Life  of  MayJiew,  103, 
117.     See  note  to  the  Preface.  —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE   HIGHER   POAVERS.  89 

For  what  reason  the  resistance  to  King  Charles  the  First 
was  made. 

By  whom  it  was  made. 

Whether  this  resistance  was  rebellion,^  or  not. 

How  the  anniversary  of  King  Charles's  death  came  at 
first  to  be  solemnized  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  humiliation. 
And,  lastly, 

Why  those  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  who  are  very  high  in 
the  principles  of  ecclesiastical  authority  continue  to  speak 
of  this  unhappy  man  as  a  great  saint  and  a  martyr. 

For  what  reason,  then,  was  the  resistance  to  King 
Charles  made  ?  The  general  answer  to  this  inquiry  is, 
that  it  was  on  account  of  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of 
.his  reign.  Not  a  great  while  after  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  he  married  a  French  Catholic,^  and  with  her 
seemed  to  have  wedded  the  politics,  if  not  the  religion 
of  France,  also.  For  afterwards,  during  a  reign,  or,  rather, 
a  tyranny  of  many  years,  he  governed  in  a  perfectly  wild 
and  arbitrary  manner,  paying  no  regard  to  the  constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  by  which  the  power  of  the 
crown  was  limited,  or  to  the  solemn  oath  which  he  had 
taken  at  his  coronation.  It  would  be  endless,  as  well  as 
needless,  to  give  a  particular  account  of  all  the  illegal  and 
despotic  measures  which  he  took  in  his  administration,  — 
partly  from  his  own  natural  lust  of  power,  and  partly  from 
the  influence  of  wicked  counsellors  and  ministers.  He 
committed  many  illustrious  members  of  both  Houses  of 
Parliament  to  the  Tower  for  opposing  his  arbitrary 
schemes.  He  levied  many  taxes  upon  the  people  without 
consent  of  Parliament,  and  then  imprisoned  great  numbers 


a  N.  B.  —  I  speak  of  rebellion,  treason,  saintship,  martyrdom,  etc.,  throughout 
this  discourse,  only  in  the  scriptural  and  theological  sense.  I  know  not  how 
the  latv  defines  them  —  the  study  of  that  not  being  my  employment. 

1  Henrietta  Maria,  daughter  of  Henry  IV.  of  France.  —  Ed. 

8* 


90  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION  AND 

of  the  i^rincipal  merchants  and  gentry  for  not  paying 
them.  He  erected,  or  at  least  revived,  several  arbitrary 
courts,  in  which  the  most  unheard-of  barbarities  were 
committed  with  his  knowledge  and  approbation.  "Pie 
supported  that  more  than  fiend.  Archbishop  Laud,  and 
the  clergy  of  his  stamp,  in  all  their  church-tyranny^  and 
hellish  cruelties.  He  authorized  a  book  in  favor  of  sports 
upon  the  Lord's  day ;  and  several  clergymen  were  perse- 
cuted by  him  and  the  mentioned  ^nous  bishop  for  not  read- 
ing it  to  the  people  after  divine  service.^  When  the  Par- 
liament complained  to  him  of  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of 
his  corrupt  ministers,  he  told  that  august  body,  in  a  rough, 
domineering,  unprincely  manner,  that  he  wondered  any  one 
should  be  so  foolish  and  insolent  as  to  think  that  he  would 
part  with  the  meanest  of  his  servants  upon  their  account. 
He  refused  to  call  any  Parliament  at  all  for  the  space  of 
twelve  years  together,  during  all  which  time  he  governed 
in  an  absolute,  lawless,  and  despotic  manner.  He  took 
all  opportunities  to  encourage  the  Papists,  and  to  promote 
them  to  the  highest  offices  of  honor  and  trust.  He  (proba- 
bly) abetted  the  horrid  massacre  in  Ireland,  in  which  two 
hundred  thousand  Protestants  were  butchered  by  the 
Roman  Catholics.  He  sent  a  large  sum  of  money,  which 
he  had  raised  by  his  arbitrary  taxes,  into  Germany,  to  raise 
foreign  troops,^  in  order  to  force  more  arbitrary  taxes  upon 


1  The  intimate  connection  of  this  with  New  England  history  is  touched 
upon  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volume.  —  Ed. 

2  "  One  Dr.  Dawson  read  it," —  in  church,  as  commanded,  —  "  and  pres- 
ently after  read  the  Ten  Commandments ;  then  said :  '  Dearly  heloAed,  you 
have  heard  now  the  commandments  of  God  and  man :  obey  which  you 
please.'  "—  Knight's  History  of  England,  iii.  415.  —  Ed. 

3  "  Foreign  troops."  In  1C27  Charles  sent  funds  to  Germany  for  mercenary 
German  troops,  to  repel  any  insurrection  consequent  on  the  collection  of  the 
excise  without  grant  by  the  Parliament.  In  1G28  the  Commons  "  remon- 
strated" against  this  "  bringing  in  of  strangers  for  aid,  as  pernicious  to  most 


NOX- RESISTANCE    TO   THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  91 

his  subjects.  He  Dot  only,  by  a  long  series  of  actions,  but 
also  in  plain  terms,  asserted  an  absolute,  uncontrollable 
power,  —  saying,  even,  in  one  of  his  speeches  to  Parlia- 
ment, that,  as  it  was  blasphemy  to  dispute  what  God 
might  do,  so  it  was  sedition  in  subjects  to  dispute  what 
the  kingr  miirbt  do  !  Towards  the  end  of  his  tyrannv  he 
came  to  the  House  of  Commons,  with  an  armed  force,^  and 
demanded  five  of  its  principal  members  to  be  delivered  up 
to  him  ;  and  this  was  a  prelude  to  that  unnatural  war 
which  he  soon  after  levied  against  his  own  dutiful  subjects, 
whom  he  was  bound,  by  all  the  laws  of  honor,  humanity, 
piety,  and,  I  might  add,  of  interest  also,  to  defend  and 
cherish  with  a  paternal  affection.  I  have  only  time  to 
hint  at  these  facts^  in  a  general  way,  all  which,  and  many 


a  Historians  are  not  agreed  what  nnmber  of  soldiers  attended  him  in  this 
monstrous  invasion  of  the  privileges  of  Parliament,  Some  say  three  hundred, 
some  four  hundred ;  and  the  author  of  "  The  History  of  the  Kings  of  Scotland" 
says  five  hundred. 

states,  but  to  England  fatal,"  and  "  we  are  bold  to  declare  to  your  Majesty 
and  the  whole  world,  that  we  hold  it  far  beneath  the  heart  of  any  English- 
man to  think  that  this  victorious  nation  should  now  stand  in  need  of  Ger- 
man soldiers  to  defend  their  now  king  and  kingdom."  The  king's  insolent 
reph'  was,  "J  owe  the  account  of  my  actions  to  God  alone ! "  and  so  prorogued 
the  Parliament.  In  the  year  before  he  had  said  to  them,  at  the  opening  of 
the  session,  "  I  mean  not  to  spend  much  time  in  words.  ...  I  need 
but  point  out  to  you  what  to  do.  I  will  use  but  few  persuasions.  .  .  . 
Take  not  this  as  a  threatening,  for  I  scorn  to  threaten  any  but  my  equals." 
When  George  II.  brought  German  troops  into  England  in  17-56,  "  That 
state  alone,"  exclaimed  Pitt,  "is  a  sovereign  state  which  stands  by  its 
own  strength,  not  by  the  help  of  another  country."  George  III.  bought 
with  British  money  "  the  hireling  sword  of  German  boors  and  vassals"  to 
reduce  the  American  colonies,  and  this  was  one  of  the  wrongs  set  forth  in 
the  Declaration  of  July  4,  1776 :  "  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign 
mercenaries." —  Ed. 

1  This  summary,  by  Dr.  May  hew,  in  17-30,  of  the  crimes  of  Charles  I. 
which  led  to  the  Revolution  of  1G40,  bears  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  '•'  declaration" 
of  the  complaints  against  George  III.  —  the  "  causes"  which  led  to  the  Rev- 
olution of  1775  —  a  resemblance  so  remarkable,  both  in  form  and  spirit, 


92  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

more  of  the  same  tenor,  may  be  proved  by  good  authori- 
ties. So  that  the  figurative  hiiiguage  which  St.  John  uses 
concerning  the  just  and  beneficent  deeds  of  our  blessed 
Saviour  may  be  applied  to  the  unrighteous  and  execrable 
deeds  of  this  prince,  viz.:  "And  there  are  also  many  other 
things  which"  King  Charles  "  did,  the  which,  if  they  should 
be  written  every  one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself 
could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written."  * 
Now,  it  was  on  account  of  King  Charles's  thus  assuming  a 
power  above  the  laws,  in  direct  contradiction  to  his  coro- 
nation oath,  and  governing,  the  greatest  j^art  of  his  time, 
in  the  most  arbitrary,  oppressive  manner  —  it  was  upon 
this  account  that  resistance  was  made  to  him,  which  at 
length  issued  in  the  loss  of  his  crown,  and  of  that  head 
which  was  unworthy  to  wear  it. 

But  by  whom  was  this  resistance  made  ?  Not  by  a 
private  junto,  not  by  a  small  seditious  party,  not  by  a  few 
desperadoes,  who  to  mend  their  fortunes  would  embroil 
the  state  ;  but  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  of  England. 
It  was  they  that  almost  unanimously  opposed  the  king's 
measures  for  overturning  the  constitution,  and  changing 
that  free  and  happy  government  into  a  wretched,  absolute 
monarcliy.  It  was  they  that,  when  the  king  was  about 
levying  forces  against  his  subjects  in  order  to  make  him- 
self absolute,  commissioned  ofificers,  and  raised  an  army  to 
defend  themselves  and  the  public ;  and  it  was  they  that 
maintained  the  war  against  him  all  along,  till  he  was  made 
a  prisoner.  This  is  indisputable  ;  though  it  was  not,  prop- 
erly speaking,  the  Parliament,  but  the  army,  which  put 

a  John  xxi.  25. 

that  a  careful  parallel  of  the  two  would  not  discredit  a  tradition,  were  there 
one,  tliat  Dr.  Mayhew's  was  the  model  for  that  of  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later.  It  is  certain  that  Dr.  Mayhew's  sermon  was  circulated  and  read 
everywhere.  —  Ed. 


NOX-RESISTANCE    TO    THE   HIGHER   POWERS.  93 

him  to  death  afterwards.  And  it  ought  to  be  freely 
acknowledged  that  most  of  their  proceeding,  in  order  to 
get  this  matter  effected,^  and  particularly  the  court  by 
which  the  king  was  at  last  tried  and  condemned,  was  little 
better  than  a  mere  mockery  of  justice. 

The  next  question  which  naturally  arises  is,  whether  this 
resistance  which  was  made  to  the  king  by  the  Parliament 
was  properly  rebellion  or  not  ?     The   answer  to  which  is 


1  "  It  is  much  to  be  doubted  whether  his  trial  and  execution  have  not, 
as  much  as  any  other  circumstance,  served  to  raise  the  character  of  the 
English  nation  in  the  opinion  of  Europe  in  general." — Charles  James 
Fox. 

"HaA-ing  share  in  the  government,  sirs,  that  is  nothing  pertaining  to 
the  people.  A  subject  and  a  sovereign  are  clean  diflFerent  things."— King 
Charles  I.  on  the  scaffold. 

"  Now  Charles,  to  a  degree  -R-hich  can  scarcely  be  exceeded,  conspired 
against  the  liberty  of  his  country.  To  assert  his  own  authority  without 
limitation  was  the  object  of  all  his  desires  and  all  his  actions,  so  far  as  the 

public  was  concerned For  that  purpose  he  commenced  war 

against  the  English  Parliament,  and  continued  it  by  every  expedient  in 
his  power  for  four  years.  ...  He  could  never  be  reconciled;  he  could 
never  be  disarmed ;  he  could  never  be  convinced.  His  was  a  war  to  the 
death,  and  there  had  the  utmost  aggravation  that  can  belong  to  a  war 

against  the  liberty  of  a  nation It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  a 

greater  criminal  than  the  individual  against  whom  the  sentence  was 
awarded." —  William  Godwin. 

"They  were  men  sufficiently  provided  with  daring;  men,  we  are  bound 
to  see,  who  sat  there  as  in  the  presence  of  the  Maker  of  all  men,  as  exe- 
cuting the  judgment  of  Heaven  above,  and  had  not  the  fear  of  any  man  or 
thing  on  the  earth  below.  ...  I  reckon  it  perhaps  the  most  daring 
action  any  body  of  men  to  be  met  with  in  history  ever,  with  clear  con- 
scio\isness,  deliberately  set  themselves  to  do." —  Thomas  Carlyle. 

"  God  has  endued  you  with  gi-eatness  of  mind  to  be  the  first  of  man- 
kind, who,  after  having  conquered  their  own  king,  and  having  had  him 
delivered  into  their  hands,  have  not  scrupled  to  condemn  him  judicially, 
and,  pursuant  to  that  sentence  of  condemnation,  to  put  him  to  death." — 
John  Milton. 

"  Illustrious  and  heroic  defenders  of  real,  perfect,  and  unpolluted  lib- 
erty, civil  and  religious,  throughout  the  world." — Ezra  Stiles.  —  Ed. 


94  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

plain,  —  that  it  was  not,  but  a  most  righteous  and  glorious 
stand,  made  in  defence  of  the  natural  and  legal  rights  of 
the  people,  against  the  unnatural  and  illegal  encroach- 
ments of  arbitrary  power.  ISTor  was  this  a  rash  and  too 
sudden  opposition.  The  nation  had  been  patient  under 
the  oppressions  of  the  crown,  even  to  long-suffering,  for  a 
course  of  many  years,  and  there  was  no  rational  hope  of  re- 
dress in  any  other  way.  Resistance  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary,^ in  order  to  j^reserve  the  nation  from  slavery,  misery, 
and  ruin.  And  who  so  proper  to  make  this  resistance  as 
the  Lords  and  Commons,  —  the  whole  representative  body 
of  the  people,  —  guardians  of  the  public  welfare  ;  and 
each  of  which  was,  in  point  of  legislation,  vested  with  an 
equal,  coordinate  power  with  that  of  the   crown?*     Here 


a  The  English  constitution  is  originally  and  essentially  free.  The  character 
which  Julius  Caesar  and  Tacitus  both  give  of  the  ancient  Britains  so  long  ago  is, 
that  they  were  extremely  jealous  of  their  liberties,  as  well  as  a  people  of  a  mar- 
tial spirit.  Nor  have  there  been  wanting  frequent  instances  and  proofs  of  the 
same  glorious  spirit,  in  both  respects,  remaining  in  their  posterity  ever  since,  in 
the  struggles  they  have  made  for  liberty,  both  against  foreign  and  domestic  ty- 
rants. Their  kings  hold  their  title  to  the  throne  solely  by  grant  of  Parliament; 
—  i.  e.,  in  other  words,  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  the  people;  —and,  agreeably 
hereto,  the  prerogative  and  rights  of  the  crown  are  stated,  defined,  and  limited 
by  law;  and  that  as  truly  and  strictly  as  the  rights  of  any  inferior  officer  in  the 
state,  or,  indeed,  of  any  private  subject.  And  it  is  only  in  this  respect  that  it  can 
be  said  that  "  the  king  can  do  no  wrong."  Being  restrained  by  the  law,  he  can- 
not, while  he  confines  himself  within  those  just  limits  which  the  law  prescribes 
to  him  as  the  measure  of  his  authority,  injure  and  oppress  the  subject.  The 
king,  in  his  coronation  oath,  swears  to  exercise  only  such  a  power  as  the  consti- 
tution gives  him ;  and  the  subject,  in  the  oath  of  allegiance,  swears  only  to  obey 
him  in  the  exercise  of  such  a  power.  The  king  is  as  much  bound  by  his  oath  not 
to  infringe  the  legal  rights  of  the  people  as  the  people  are  bound  to  yield  subjec- 
tion to  him  From  whence  it  follows,  that  as  soon  as  the  prince  sets  himself  up 
above  law,  he  loses  the  king  in  the  tyrant.    He  does,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 

1  Lord  Camden  relates  that  somebody  asked  the  great  Mr.  Selden,  whom 
Grotius  called  the  glory  of  England,  in  what  law-book,  in  what  records 
or  archives  of  the  state,  might  be  found  the  law  for  resisting  tyranny.  "  I 
don't  know,"  said  Selden,  "  whether  it  would  be  worth  your  while  to  look 
deeply  into  books  on  this  matter;  but  I  will  tell  you  Avhat  is  most  certain, 
that  it  has  always  been  the  custom  of  England,  and  the  custom  of  Eng- 
land is  the  law  of  the  land."  —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE   TO   THE    HIGHER   POWERS.  95 

were  two  branches  of  the  legislature  against  one  ;  two, 
which  had  law  and  equity  and  the  constitution  on  their 
side,  against  one  which  was  impiously  attempting  to  over- 
turn law  and  equity  and  the  constitution,  and  to  exercise 
a  wanton,  licentious  sovereignty  over  the  properties,  con- 
sciences, and  lives  of  all  the  people  ;  —  such  a  sovereignty 
as  some  inconsiderately  ascribe  to  the  Supreme  Governor 
of  the  world.  I  say,  inconsiderately,  because  God  himself 
does  not  govern  in  an  absolutely  arbitrary  and  despotic 
manner.  The  power  of  this  almighty  King  —  I  speak  it 
not  without  caution  and  reverence  —  the  power  of  this 
almighty  King  is  limited  by  law ;  not  indeed  by  acts  of 
Parliament,  but  by  the  eternal  laws  of  truth,  wisdom,  and 
equity,  and  the  everlasting  tables  of  right  reason,  —  tables 
that  cannot  be  repealed,  or  thrown  down  and  broken  like 
those  of  Moses.  But  King  Charles  set  himself  up  above 
all  these,^  as  much  as  he  did  above  the  w^ritten  laws  of  the 
realm,  and  made  mere  humor  and  caprice,  which  are  no 
rule  at  all,  the  only  rule  and  measure  of  his  administration. 
And  now  is  it  not  perfectly  ridiculous  to  call  resistance  to 
such  a  tyrant  by  the  name  of  rebellion  f  —  the  grand  rebel- 


unking  himself  by  acting  out  of  and  beyond  that  sphere  which  the  constitution 
allows  him  to  move  in ;  and  in  such  cases  he  has  no  more  right  to  be  obeyed  than 
any  inferior  officer  who  acts  beyond  his  commission.  The  subject's  obligation  to 
allegiance  then  ceases,  of  course;  and  to  resist  him  is  no  more  rebellion  than  to 
resist  any  foreign  invader.  There  is  an  es.sential  difference  betwixt  government 
and  tyranny,  at  least  under  such  a  constitution  as  the  English.  The  former  con- 
sists in  ruling  according  to  law  and  equity ;  the  latter,  in  ruling  contrary  to  law 
and  equity.  So,  also,  there  is  an  essential  difference  betwixt  resisting  a  tyrant, 
and  rebellion.  The  former  is  a  just  and  reasonable  self-defence;  the  latter  con- 
sists in  resisting  a  prince  whose  administration  is  just  and  legal;  and  this  is 
what  denominates  it  a  crime.  Now,  it  is  evident  that  King  Charles's  government 
was  illegal,  and  very  oppressive,  through  the  greatest  part  of  his  reign;  and, 
therefore,  to  resist  him  was  no  more  rebellion  than  to  oppose  any  foreign  in- 
vader, or  any  other  domestic  oppressor. 

1  Very  distinctly  he  did  so.  He  began  his  reasons  for  dissolving  the  Par- 
liament (March  10,  1628)  with  this :  "  Howsoever,  princes  are  not  hound  to  give 
account  of  (heir  actions  hut  to  God  alone."  —  Rushworth,  1.,  Appendix.  —  Ed. 


96  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

lion  ?      Even  that Parliament  which  brouo:ht  Kin<x 

Charles  II.  to  the  throne,  and  which  rim  loyally  mad, 
severely  reproved  one  of  their  own  members  for  condemn- 
ing the  proceedings  of  that  Parliament  which  first  took 
up  arms  against  the  former  king.  And  npon  the  same 
principles  that  the  proceeding  of  this  Parliament  may  be 
censured  as  wicked  and  rebellious,  the  proceedings  of  those 
who,  since,  opposed  King  James  II.,  and  brought  the 
Prince  of  Orange  to  the  throne,  may  be  censured  as 
wicked  and  rebellious  also.  The  cases  are  parallel.  But, 
whatever  some  men  may  think,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  for 
their  own  sakes,  they  will  not  dare  to  speak  against  the 
Revolution,  upon  the  justice  and  legality  of  which  de- 
pends,^ in  part,  his  present  majesty's  right  to  the  throne. 

If  it  be  said  that  although  the  Parliament  which  first 
opposed  King  Charles's  measures,  and  at  length  took  up 
arms  against  him,  were  not  guilty  of  rebellion,  yet  cer- 
tainly those  persons  were  who  condemned  and  put  him  to 
death,  —  even  this,  perhaps,  is  not  true  ;  for  he  had,  in 
fact,  unkinged  himself  long  before,  and  had  forfeited  his 
title  to  the  allegiance  of  the  people.  So  that  those  who 
put  him  to  death  were,  at  most,  only  guilty  of  murder^  — 
which  indeed  is  bad  enough,  if  they  were  really  guilty  of 
tliat^  —  which  is,  at  least,  disputable.^  Cromwell,  and 
those  who  were  principally  concerned  in  the  (nominal) 
king's  death,  might  possibly  have  been  very  wicked  and 
designing  men.  Nor  shall  I  say  anything  in  vindication 
of  the  reigning  hypocrisy  of  those  times,  or  of  Cromwell's^ 


1  This  point  was  used,  and  with  great  power,  during  the  next  thirty- 
years.  We  shall  find  it  frequently  made  in  the  sermons  in  this  collec- 
tion.—  Ed. 

2  See  note  1,  p.  62.  —  Ed. 

3  Carlyle  says :  "  It  is  beautiful  ...  to  see  how  the  memory  of 
Cromwell    .     .     .    has  been  steadily  growing  clearer  and  clearer  in  the 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  97 

mal-administration  during  the  interregnum  ;  for  it  is  truth, 
and  not  a  party,  that  I  am  speaking  for.  But  still,  it  may 
be  said  that  Cromwell  and  his  adherents  were  not,  properly 
speaking,  guilty  of  rebellion,  because  he  whom  they  be- 
headed was  not,  properly  speaking,  their  king,  but  a  law- 
less tyrant ;  much  less  are  the  whole  body  of  the  nation 
at  that  time  to  be  charged  with  rebellion  on  that  account : 
for  it  was  no  national  act ;  it  was  not  done  by  a  free  Par- 
liament. And  much  less  still  is  the  nation  at  present  to  be 
charged  with  the  great  sin  of  rebellion  for  what  their  an- 
cestors did,  or,  rather,  did  not,  a  century  ago. 

But  how  came  the  anniversary  of  King  Charles's  death 
to  be  solomnized  ^  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  humiliation  ? 

popular  English  mind;  onwards  to  this  day,  the  progress  does  not  stop." 
He  declares  Cromwell  the  "  English  hero;  "  "  the  soul  and  life  of  Puritan- 
ism; "  "the  most  English  of  Englishmen;  "  "a  great  man,  denizen  of 
all  centuries,  or  he  could  not  have  been,  as  he  was,  the  pattern  one  of  the 
seventeenth."  —  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Cromwell.  —  Ed. 

1  The  diary  of  Evelyn,  recently  published,  contains  interesting  notices  of 
this  "  Fast."  "  January  30th,  1661,  was  the  first  solemn  fast  and  day  of  hu- 
miliation to  deplore  the  sins  which  so  long  had  provoked  God  against  this 
afflicted  church  and  people,  ordered  by  Parliament  to  be  annually  cele- 
brated to  expiate  the  guilt  of  the  execrable  murder  of  the  late  king. 

"  This  da}"  (0  the  stupendous  and  inscrutable  judgments  of  God!)  were 
the  carcasses  of  those  arch-rebels,  Cromwell,  Bradshaw  (the  judge  who 
condemned  his  Majesty),  and  Ireton  (son-in-law  to  the  usurper),  dragged 
out  of  their  superb  tombs  in  Westminster,  among  the  kings,  to  Tyburn, 
and  hanged  on  the  gallows  there  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  six  at 
night,  and  then  buried  under  that  fatal  and  ignominious  monument,  in  a 
deep  pit ;  thousands  of  people  who  had  seen  them  in  all  their  pride  being 
spectators.  Look  back  at  October  22,  1658," —  Oliver's  funeral,  —  "  and  be 
astonished,  and  fear  God  and  honor  the  king;  but  meddle  not  with  them 
who  are  given  to  change."  But  times  change,  and  we  change  with  them. 
Not  thirty  years  had  passed  before  the  "  martyr's  "  family  was  banished 
from  the  throne  and  nation.  "And  now,"  says  Evelyn,  "  the  clergy  began 
to  change  their  note,  both  in  pulpit  and  discourse,  on  their  old  passive 
obedience,  so  as  people  begin  to  talk  of  the  bishops  being  cast  out  of  the 
House;"  and  on  tlie  30th  of  January-,  1689,  he  writes :  "  The  anniversary  of 

9 


98  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION    AND 

The  true  answer  in  brief  to  which  inquiry  is,  that  this  fast 
was  instituted  by  way  of  court  and  compliment  to  King 
Charles  II.  upon  the  restoration.  All  were  desirous  of 
making  their  court  to  him,  of  ingratiating  themselves,  and 
of  making  him  forget  what  had  been  done  in  opposition 
to  his  father,  so  as  not  to  revenge  it.  To  effect  this  they 
ran  into  the  most  extravagant  professions  of  affection  and 
loyalty  to  him,  insomuch  that  he  himself  said  that  it  was  a 
mad  and  hair-brained  royalty  which  they  professed.  And, 
amongst  other  strange  things  which  his  first  Parliament  did, 
they  ordered  the  thirtieth  of  January  —  the  day  on  which 
his  father  was  beheaded  —  to  be  kept  as  a  day  of  solemn - 
humiliation,  to  deprecate  the  judgments  of  Heaven  for  the 
rebellion  which  the  nation  had  been  guilty  of,  in  that 
which  was  no  national  thing,  and  which  was  not  rebellion 
in  them  that  did  it.  Thus  they  soothed  and  flattered  their 
new  king  at  the  expense  of  their  liberties,  and  were  ready 
to  yield  up  freely  to  Charles  II.  all  that  enormous  power 
which  they  had  justly  resisted  Charles  I.  for  usurping  to 
himself 

The  last  query  mentioned  was,  "Why  those  of  the  Epis- 
copal clergy  who  are  very  high  in  the  principles  of  ecclesi- 
astical authority  continue  to  speak  of  this  unhappy  man  as 
a  great  saint  and  a  martyr.  This  we  know  is  what  they 
constantly  do,  especially  upon  the  thirtieth  of  January  —  a 
day  sacred  to  the  extolling  of  him,  and  to  the  reproaching 
of  those  who  are  not  of  the  Established  Church.  "  Out 
of  the  same  mouth,"  on  this  day,  "  proceedeth  blessing  and 
cursing;"''  therewith  bless  they  their  God,  even  Charles, 
and  therewith  curse  they  the  dissenters.  And  their 
"  tongue  can  no  man  tame ;  it  is  an  unruly  evil,  full  of 

a  James  iii.  8,  9, 10. 
King  Charles   the  First's  martyrdom;  but  in  all  the  public  offices  and 
pulpit  prayers  the  collects  and  litany  for  the  king  and  queen  were  cur- 
tailed and  mutilated."  —Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.  99 

deadly  poison."  King  Charles  is  upon  this  solemnity 
frequently  compared  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both  in 
respect  of  the  holiness  of  his  life  and  the  greatness  and 
injustice  of  his  sufferings;  and  it  is  a  wonder  they  do  not 
add  something  concerning  the  merits  of  his  death  also : 
but  "  blessed  saint "  and  "  royal  martyr "  are  as  humble 
titles  as  any  that  are  thought  worthy  of  him. 

Now  this  may,  at  first  view,  well  appear  to  be  a  very 
strange  phenomenon ;  for  King  Charles  was  really  a  man 
black  with  guilt,  and  "laden  with' iniquity,"^  as  appears 
by  his  crimes  before  mentioned.  He  lived  a  tyrant ;  and 
it  was  the  oppression  and  violence  of  his  reign  that 
brought  him  to  his  untimely  and  violent  end  at  last. 
Xow,  what  of  saintship  or  martyrdom  is  there  in  all  this? 
"What  of  saintship  is  there  in  encouraging  people  to  pro- 
fane the  Lord's  day?  What  of  saintship  in  falsehood  and 
perjury?  What  of  saintship  in  repeated  robberies  and 
depredations  ?  What  of  saintship  in  throwing  real  saints 
and  glorious  patriots  into  jails?  What  of  saintship  in 
overturning  an  excellent  civil  constitution,  and  proudly 
grasping  at  an  illegal  and  monstrous  power?  What  of 
saintship  in  the  murder  of  thousands  of  innocent  people, 
and  involving  a  nation  in  all  the  calamities  of  civil  war? 
And  what  of  martyrdom  is  there  in  a  man's  bringing  an 
immature  and  violent  death  upon  himself  by  "  being 
wicked  overmuch"  ?  ^  Is  there  any  such  thing  as  grace 
without  goodness ;  as  being  a  follower  of  Christ  without 
following  him ;  as  being  his  disciple  without  learning  of 
him  to  be  just  and  beneficent;  or  as  saintship  without 
sanctity  ?  *^    If  not,  I  fear  it  will  be  hard  to  prove  this 

»  Isa.  i.  4.  b  Eccles.  vii.  17. 

c  Is  it  any  wonder  that  even  persons  who  do  not  walk  after  their  own  lust 
should  scoff  at  such  saints  as  this,  both  in  the  first  and  in  the  last  days,  even 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting?  (2  Pet.  iii.  3,  4.)  But  perhaps  it  will  be  said  that 
these  things  are  mysteries,  which,  although  very  true  in  themselves,  lay  under- 
stand iugs  cannot  comprehend ;  or,  indeed,  any  other  persons  amongst  us  besides 


100  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

man  a  saint.  And  verily  one  would  be  apt  to  suspect  that 
that  church  must  be  but  poorly  stocked  with  saints  and 
martyrs  which  is  forced  to  adopt  such  enormous  sinners 
into  her  calendar  in  order  to  swell  the  number. 

But,  to  unravel  this  mystery  of  (nonsense  as  well  as 
of)  iniquity,  which  has  already  worked  for  a  long  time 
amongst  us,*  or,  at  least,  to  give  the  most  probable  solu- 
tion of  it,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  King  Charles,-^  this 
burlesque  upon  saintship  and  martyrdom,  —  though  so  great 
an  oppressor,  was  a  true  friend  to  the  church,  —  so  true  a 
friend  to  her  that  he  was  very  well  aifected  towards  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  would  probably  have  been  very 
willing  to  unite  Lambeth  and  Rome.  This  appears  by 
his  marrying  a  true  daughter  of  that  true  "mother  of 
harlots,"  ^  which  he  did  with  a  dispensation  from  the  Pope, 
that  supreme  bishop,  to  whom,  when  he  wrote,  he  gave  the 
title  of  Most  Holy  Father.  His  queen  was  extremely 
bigoted  to  all  the  follies  and  superstitions,  and  to  the 
hierarchy,  of  Rome,  and  had  a  prodigious  ascendency  over 
him  all  his  life.  It  was  in  part  owing  to  this  that  he 
(probably)  abetted  the  massacre  of  the  Protestants  in 
Ireland, — that  he  assisted  in  extirpating  the  French  Protes- 


those  who,  being  inwardly  moved  hy  the  Holy  Ghost,  have  taken  a  trip  across 
the  Atlantic  to  obtain  episcopal  ordination  and  the  indelible  character.^  How- 
ever, if  these  consecrated  gentlemen  do  not  quite  despair  of  us,  it  is  hoped  that, 
in  the  abundance  of  their  charity,  they  will  endeavor  to  elucidate  these  dark 
points,  and  at  the  same  time  explain  the  creed  of  another  of  their  eminent  saints, 
Avhich  we  are  told  that  unless  we  believe  faithfully,  i.  e.,  believingly,  we  cannot 
be  saved;  —  which  creed,  or  rather  riddle,  notwithstanding  all  the  labors  of  the 
pious  and  metaphysical  Dr.  Waterland,  remains  somewhat  enigmatical  still, 
a  2  Thess.  ii.  7.  b  Rev.  xvii.  5. 

1  Among  these  were  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.  D.,  first  President  of 
King's  College,  and  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler,  D.  D.,  President  of  Yale  Col- 
lege; Rev.  Samuel  A.  Peters,  LL.  D.,  author  of  the  remarkable  "  History 
of  Connecticut;"  the  Rev.  East  Apthorp,  missionary  "in  foreign  parts," 
at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts;  and,  of  later  date,  the  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey, 
A.  M.,  happily  commemorated  as  "  The  Frontier  Missionary "  by  the 
Rev.  William  S.  Bartlett,  A.  M.  —  Ed. 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE    HIGHER    POWERS.         101 

tants  ^  at  Rochelle,  —  that  he  all  along  encouraged  Papists 
and  popishly  affected  clergymen,  in  preference  to  all  other 
persons,  —  and  that  he  upheld  that  monster  of  wickedness, 
Archbishop  Laud,  and  the  bishops  of  his  stamp,  in  all 
their  church  tyranny  and  diabolical  cruelties.  In  return 
to  his  kindness  and  indulgence  in  which  respects  they 
caused  many  of  the  pulpits  throughout  the  nation  to  ring 
with  the  divine,  absolute,  indefeasible  right  of  kings — with 
the  praises  of  Charles  and  his  reign,  and  with  the  damna- 
ble sin  of  resisting  the  "Lord's  anointed,"  let  him  do  what 
he  would  ;  so  that  not  Christ,  but  Charles,  was  commonly 
preached  to  the  people.  In  plain  English,  there  seems 
to  have  been  an  impious  bargain  struck  up  betwixt  the 
sceptre  and  the  surplice  for  enslaving  both  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men.  The  king  appeared  to  be  willing  that  the 
clergy  should  do  what  they  would,  —  set  up  a  monstrous 
hierarchy  like  that  of  Rome,  a  monstrous  Inquisition  like 
that  of  Spain  or  Portugal,  or  anything  else  which  their 
own  pride  and  the  devil's  malice  could  prompt  them  to, 
—  provided  always  that  the  clergy  would  be  tools  to  the 
crown ;  that  they  would  make  the  people  believe  that 
kings  had  God's  authority  for  breaking  God's  law,  —  that 
they  had  a  commission  from  Heaven  to  seize  the  estates 
and  lives  of  their  subjects  at  pleasure,  —  and  that  it  was  a 
damnable  sin  to  resist  them,  even  when  they  did  such 

1  Many  of  the  French  Protestants  found  refuge  in  New  England.  They 
settled  the  town  of  Oxford,  in  Massachusetts,  in  1G86.  Some  of  them 
settled  in  Boston,  and  their  church  in  School  Street  must  have  been 
familiar  to  Dr.  Mayhew,  who  would  have  peculiar  sympathy  with  them  as 
refugees.  Many  of  their  names  are  familiar  to  us:  Faneuil  Hall,  in 
Boston;  Bowdoin  College,  in  Maine;  Legare,  of  the  bar;  Dehon,  of  the 
clergy;  Sigourney  (by  marriage),  among  the  poets.  Interesting  particu- 
lars in  Drake's  History  of  Boston,  Rev.  Dr.  Holmes's  Memoir  of  the  French 
Protestants  who  settled  at  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  A.  D.  1686,  and  in  Mr. 
Joseph  Willard's  tract  on  Naturalization  in  the  American  Colonies.  —  Ed. 

9* 


102  UNLIMITED    SUBMISSION   AND 

things  as  deserved  more  than  damnation.     This  appears 
to  be  the  true  key  for  explaining  the  mysterious  doctrine 
of  King  Charles's   saintship  and  martyrdom.     He  was  a 
saint,  not  because  he  was  in  his  life  a  good  man,  but  a 
good  Churchman ;  not  because  he  was  a  lover  of  holiness, 
but  the  hierarchy  ;  not  because  he  was  a  friend  to  Christ, 
but  the  craft.     And  he  was  a  martyr  in  his  death,  not 
because  he  bravely  suffered  death  in  the  cause  of  truth 
and  righteousness,  but  because  he  died  an  enemy  to  liberty 
and  the  rights  of  conscience ;  i.  c,  not  because  he  died  an 
enemy  to  sin,  but  dissenters.     For  these  reasons  it  is  that 
all  bigoted  clergymen  and  friends  to  church  power  paint 
this  man  as  a  saint   in  his  life,  though  he  was  such  a 
mighty,  such  a  royal  sinner;  and  as  a  martyr  in  his  death, 
though  he  fell  a  sacrifice  only  to  his  own  ambition,  avarice, 
and   unbounded   lust  of  power.     And,  from   prostituting 
their  praise  upon   King  Charles,  and   offering  him   that 
incense  which  is  not  his  due,  it  is  natural  for  them  to 
make  a  transition  to  the  dissenters,  —  as  they  commonly 
do,  —  and  to  load  them  with  that  reproach  which  they  do 
not    deserve, —  they  being   generally  professed   enemies 
both  to  civil   and  ecclesiastical  tyranny.     We  are  com- 
monly charged,  upon  the  thirtieth  of  January,  wath  the 
guilt  of  putting  the  king  to  death,  under  a  notion  that  it 
was  our  ancestors  that  did  it ;  and  so  we  are  represented 
in  the  blackest  colors,  not  only  as  schismatics,  but  also  as 
traitors  and  rebels,  and  all  that  is  bad.     And  these  lofty 
gentlemen  usually  rail  upon  this  head  in  such  a  manner  as 
plainly  shows  that  they  are  either  grossly  ignorant  of  the 
history  of  those  times  which  they  speak  of,  or  —  which  is 
worse — that  they  are  guilty  of  the  most  shameful  prevari- 
cation, slander,  and  falsehood.    But  every  petty  priest  with 
a  roll  and  a  gown  thinks  he  must  do  something  in  imitation 
of  his  betters  in  lawn,  and  show  himself  a  true  son  of  the 


NON-RESISTANCE    TO    THE   HIGHER    POWERS.  103 

church:  and  thus,  through  a  foolish  ambition  to  appear 
considerable,  they  only  render  themselves  contemptible.^ 

But,  suppose  our  forefathers  did  kill  their  mock  saint 
and  martyr  a  century  ago,  what  is  that  to  us  now  ?  If  I 
mistake  not,  these  gentlemen  generally  preach  down  the 
doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  his  posterity 
as  absurd  and  unreasonable,  notwithstanding  they  have 
solemnly  subscribed  what  is  equivalent  to  it  in  their  own 
articles  of  religion  ;  and  therefore  one  would  hardly  expect 
that  they  would  lay  the  guilt  of  the  king's  death  upon  us, 
although  our  forefathers  had  been  the  only  authors  of  it : 
but  this  conduct  is  much  more  surprising  when  it  does  not 
appear  that  our  ancestors  had  any  more  hand  in  it  than 
their  own.  However,  bigotry  is  sufficient  to  account  for 
this  and  many  other  phenomena  which  cannot  be  accounted 
for  in  any  other  way. 

Although  the  observation  of  this  anniversary  seems  to 
have  been  at  least  superstitious  in  its  original;  and  al- 
though it  is  often  abused  to  very  bad  purposes  by  the 
established  clergy,  as  they  serve  themselves  of  it  to  per- 

1  Dr.  Bradford,  the  biographer  of  Dr.  Mayhew,  says:  "It  should  be 
recollected  that  the  governors  in  Massachusetts  were  then  appointed  by 
the  king,  and  were  Episcopalians,  sent  over  from  England.  Their  partic- 
ular patronage  and  favor  were  bestowed  on  the  few  Episcopal  clergy; 
which  served  to  render  them  overbearing,  and  unwilling  to  allow  the  Con- 
gregational clergy  to  be  ministers  of  the  gospel.  So  haughty  and  censo- 
rious were  most  of  them,  that  one  was  led  to  say  of  them,  *  They  know 
not  what  they  are  of.'  Great  efforts  were  then  making  to  settle  Episcopal 
clergy  in  New  England,  who  were  most  anxious  to  increase  the  members 
of  the  English  Episcopal  church,  and  to  interfere  with  the  other  clergy. 
These  Episcopal  ministers  were  supported  by  the  English  hierarchy;  and. 
the  civil  administration  of  the  British  government  particularly  favored  and 
encouraged  this  plan,  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  political  meas- 
ures and  views  of  the  ministers,  then  strongly  leaning  to  tory  doctrines. 
It  was  considered  important  to  increase  and  extend  Episcopacy  in  the  colo- 
nies, with  a  view  to  secure  obedience  to  all  political  measures  and  plans. 
*  No  bishops,  no  kings,'  was  the  opinion  and  party-cry  of  many."  —  Ed. 


104  UNLIMITED   SUBMISSION. 

petuate  strife,  a  party  spirit,  and  divisions  in  the  Christian 
church ;  yet  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  one  good  end  will  be 
answered  by  it,  quite  contrary  to  their  intention  :  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  it  will  prove  a  standing  memento  that 
Britons  will  not  be  slaves,  and  a  warning  to  all  corrupt 
counsellors  and  ministers  not  to  go  too  far  in  advising  to 
arbitrary,  despotic  measures. 

To  conclude  :  Let  us  all  learn  to  be  free  and  to  be  loyal ; 
let  us  not  profess  ourselves  vassals  to  the  lawless  pleasure 
of  any  man  on  earth ;  but  let  us  remember,  at  the  same 
time,  government  is  sacred,  and  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
It  is  our  happiness  to  live  under  a  prince  who  is  satisfied 
with  ruling  according  to  law,  as  every  other  good  prince 
will.  We  enjoy  under  his  administration  all  the  liberty 
that  is  proper  and  expedient  for  us.  It  becomes  us,  there- 
fore, to  be  contented  and  dutiful  subjects.  Let  us  prize 
our  freedom,  but  not  "  use  our  liberty  for  a  cloak  of  ma- 
liciousness." *  There  are  men  who  strike  at  liberty  under 
the  term  licentiousness ;  there  are  others  who  aim  at  pop- 
ularity under  the  disguise  of  patriotism.  Be  aware  of 
both.  Extremes  are  dangerous.  There  is  at  present 
amongst  us,  perhaps,  more  danger  of  the  latter  than  of  the 
former ;  for  which  reason  I  would  exhort  you  to  pay  all 
due  regard  to  the  government  over  us,  to  the  king,  and 
all  in  authority,  and  to  "  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life."  ^ 
And,  while  I  am  speaking  of  loyalty  to  our  earthly 
prince,  suffer  me  just  to  put  you  in  mind  to  be  loyal  also 
to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  "  by  whom  kings 
reign  and  princes  decree  justice;" °  —  to  which  King, 
eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  even  to  "  the  only  wise  God,"*^ 
be  all  honor  and  praise,  dominion  and  thanksgiving,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

a  1  Peter  ii.  16.  b  i  Tim.  ii.  2.  c  Prov.  viu.  15.  d  1  Tim.  i.  17. 


A 

DISCOURSE 

On  ^^the  good  News  from 
a  far  Country/' 

Delivered  July  ^^th, 

A  Day  of  Thanks-giving  to  Almighty  God, 
throughout  the  Province  of  the  Majfachufetts- 
Bay  in  New- England^  on  Occafion  of  the 
Repeal  of  the  STAMP-ACT  ;  appointed 
by  his  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  faid 
Province,  at  the  Defire  of  it's  Houfe  of  Re- 
presentatives, with  the  Advice  of  his 
Majesty's  Council. 


By  Charles   Chauncy,  D.D. 

A  Paftor  of  the  firft  Church  in  Bojion. 


BOSTON:    N  E. 

Printed  by  Kneeland  and  Adams,  in  Milk-ftreet, 
for  Thomas  Leverett,  in  Corn-hill. 

MDCCLXVI. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  origin  of  the  Stamp  Act  can  be  best  understood  by  a  glance  at  the 
previous  political  relations  of  the  colonies  to  the  mother  land. 

England,  "  a  shop-keeping  nation,"  i  gained  her  riches  by  the  commer- 
cial monopoly  under  the  "  Navigation  Acts," —  a  system  invented  by  Sir 
George  Downing,  the  one  whose  name  stands  second  on  Harvard  College 
catalogue.  These  acts  were  modified  as  the  changes  of  commerce  re- 
quired, and  the  "  Stamp  Act,"  but  one  of  the  series,  was  intended  to 
retain  the  old  monopoly  of  American  trade,  which  was  greatly  endan- 
gered by  the  conquest  of  Canada.    This  was  its  origin  and  motive. 

The  dispute  resolved  itself  into  this  naked  question,  whether  "  the  king 
in  Parliament  2  had  full  power  to  bind  the  colonies  and  people  of  America 
in  all  cases  whatsoever,"  or  in  none. 

The  colonists  argued  that,  by  the  feudal  system,  the  king,  lord  para- 
mount of  lands  in  America,  as  in  England,  as  such,  had  disposed  of  them 
on  certain  conditions.  James  I.,  in  1621,  informed  Parliament  that 
"  America  was  not  annexed  to  the  realm,  and  that  it  was  not  fitting  that 
Parliament  should  make  laws  for  those  countries;"  and  Charles  I.  told 
them  "  that  the  colonies  were  without  the  realm  and  jurisdiction  of  Parlia- 


1  This  phrase  is  from  a  tract,  1766,  by  Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester.  At  that 
date  he  advocated  "  a  separation,  parting  with  the  colonies  entirely,  and  then 
making  leagues  of  friendship  with  them,  as  with  so  many  independent  states;" 
but,  said  he,  "  it  was  too  enlarged  an  idea  for  a  mind  wholly  occupied  within  the 
narrow  circle  of  trade,"  and  a  "  stranger  to  the  revolutions  of  states  and  empires, 
thoroughly  to  comprehend,  much  less  to  digest." 

2  The  answers  of  the  Massachusetts  Council,  January  25th,  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, January  26th,  to  Governor  Hutchinson's  speech,  January  6th,  1775, 
are  rich  in  historical  illustrations  of  this  point,  presented  with  great  force  of 
reason,  and  are  decisive. 


108  editor's  prefatory  note. 

merit."  The  colonists  showed  that  the  American  charters  were  compacts 
between  the  king  and  his  subjects  who  "  transported  themselves  out  o/this 
kingdom  of  England  into  America,"  by  whl^  they  owed  allegiance  to 
him  personally  as  sovereign,  but  were  to  make  their  own  laws  and  taxes : 
for  instance,  a  revenue  was  raised  in  Virginia  by  a  law  "enacted  hy  the 
King's  most  excellent  Majesty,  by  and  tvith  the  consent  of  the  Ger.eral  Assembly 
of  the  Colony  of  Virginia."  They  denied  the  authority  of  the  legislature  of 
Great  Britain  over  them,  but  acknowledged  his  Majesty  as  a  part  of  the 
several  colonial  legislatures. 

But  the  colonies,  while  jealous  of  their  internal  self-control,  had  per- 
mitted the  British  Parliament  to  "  regulate"  their  foreign  trade,  and,  upon 
precedent,  the  latter  now  claimed  authority  to  bind  the  colonies  "  in  all 
cases  whatsoever."  Rcljing  upon  the  royal  compact  in  their  charters, 
the  spirit  of  the  British  constitution,  and  "  their  rights  as  Englishmen," 
the  Americans  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  their  "brethren"  in  England. 

"  Nil  Desperandum,  Christo  Duce,"  was  the  motto  on  the  flag  of  New 
England  in  1745,  when  her  Puritan  sons  conquered  Louisburg,  the 
stronghold  of  Papal  France  in  the  New  World,  and  thus  gave  peace  to 
Europe.  This  enterprise,  in  its  spirit,  was  little  less  a  crusade  than  was 
that  to  redeem  Palestine  from  the  thraldom  of  the  Mussulman,  and  the 
sepulchre  of  Jesus  from  the  infidels.  One  of  the  chaplains  carried  upon 
his  shoulder  a  hatchet  to  destroy  the  images  in  the  Romish  churches. 
"  0,"  exclaimed  a  good  old  deacon,  to  Pepperell,  "  0  that  I  could  be 
with  you  and  dear  Parson  Moody  in  that  church,  to  destroy  the  images 
there  set  up,  and  hear  the  true  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  there 
pi-eached!     My  wife,  Avho  is  ill  and  confined  to  her  bed,  yet  is  so  spirited 

in  the  affair that  she  is  very  willing  all  her  sons  should 

wait  on  you,  though  it  is  outwardly  greatly  to  our  damage.  One  of  them 
has  already  enlisted,  and  I  know  not  but  there  will  be  more."  i  "  Christo 
Duce!"  The  extinction  of  French  dominion  was  quickly  completed  by 
the  conquest  of  Canada  in  1759-60,  and  at  the  same  moment  ceased  the 
colonial  need  of  the  red-cross  flag  of  St.  George,  whose  nationality  had 
been  their  protection  against  the  aggressions  of  the  French.  The  French 
being  driven  from  Canada,  New  England  could  stand  alone.  This  was 
the  point  "  in  the  course  of  human  events"  when  the  sovereignty  of 
England  over  the  colonies  was  ended,  though  their  formal  "  Declaration 
of  American  Independence,"   and  of  the  dissolution  of  "  the  political 

1  Life  of  Pepperell,  by  Usher  Parsons,  M.  D.    3d  ed.,  1856,  p.  52. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  109 

bands"  witli  the  mother  country,  was  not  issued  till  several  3'ears  later. 
The  conquest  of  Canada  was  the  emancipation  of  the  colonies,  as  the 
opponents  of  the  war  predicted.  British  parliaments,  though  backed  by 
British  guns,  and  all  the  canons  of  the  English  church,  were  powerless 
against  "the  laws  of  nature  and  nature's  God;"  and  the  Stamp  Act  was 
merely  a  touchstone  for  certain  "  self-evident  truths" —  not  mere  "  sound- 
ing and  glittering  generalities" —  enunciated  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776. 
This  attempt  at  despotism  resulted  in  the  alienation  of  the  colonists  from 
their  brethren  in  England,  the  Union,  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
birth  of  a  Nation.  By  it  England  lost  her  American  dominion,  won  defeat 
and  dishonor,  and  added  to  the  national  debt  one  hundred  and  four 
million  pounds  sterling,  on  which  she  is  now  paying  interest,  —  the  work 
of  George  III.  and  his  servile  ministers,  his  "  domestics,"  as  they  were 
called.  But  America  saved  not  only  her  own  liberty,  but  the  liberty 
of  England;  the  policy  of  George  III.  and  his  government,  which  the 
colonies  defeated,  if  attempted  at  this  day,  would  not  only  sever  every 
colony,  but  overthi'ow  the  throne  itself.  In  January,  1766,  Mr.  Pitt 
himself  declared  the  American  controversy  to  be  "  a  great  common 
cause,"  and  that  "  America,  if  she  fell,  Avould  fall  like  a  strong  man. 
She  would  embrace  the  pillars  of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the  constitu- 
tion along  with  her."  Hear  Lord  Camden,  also :  "  I  will  say,  not  only  as 
a  statesman,  politician,  and  philosopher,  but  as  a  common  lawyer,  you 
have  no  right  to  tax  America.  The  natural  rights  of  man  and  the 
immutable  laws  of  nature  are  all  with  that  people."  And  General  Bur- 
goyne  declared  in  Parliament,  in  1781,  that  he  "was  now  convinced  the 
principle  of  the  American  w^ar  was  wrong,  .  .  .  only  one  part  of  a  sys- 
tem levelled  against  the  constitution  and  the  general  rights  of  mankind." 
It  was  equally  for  the  sake  of  England  as  of  America  that  Mr.  Pitt  and 
the  high-minded  men  of  that  day  "rejoiced"  in  our  resistance  to  tjTanny. 
"Passive  obedience"  then  became  an  obsolete  gospel. 

One  of  the  most  efficient  causes  of  the  Revolution  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  people  —  an  accomplished  fact  before  the  war  commenced  — 
was  the  controversy  begun  in  1763  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew  in  his  attack 
on  the  conduct  of  the  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts."  The  most  insidious  scheme  for  reducing  the  colonies  to  slavery 
was  that  of  this  society,  which  was  known  to  be  only  an  association  for 
propagating  "lords  spiritual"  in  America,!  who  should  inculcate,  in  the 

1  Mr.  Arthur  Lee,  of  Virginia,  wrote  from  London,  Sept.  22, 1771 :  "  The  com- 

10 


110  editor's  prefatory  note. 

name  of  religion,  the  Church  of  England  principles  of  "  submission  and 
obedience,  clear,  absolute,  and  without  exception."  Dr.  Mayhew  exposed 
this  pious  fraud.  The  Bishop  of  Landaff,  in  his  sermon  of  1766,  before 
this  society,  ingenuously  declared,  that  when  Episcopacy  should  be  es- 
tablished in  America,  "  then  this  society  will  be  brought  to  the  happy  issue 
intended  "! 

This  excited  general  alarm.  The  hierarchy  could  be  established  only  by 
Parliament;  and  if,  they  reasoned,  Parliament  can  authorize  bishops, 
tithes,  ceremonies,  and  tests  in  America,  they  can  tax  us;  and  what  can 
they  not  do?  The  question  was,  really,  Does  the  British  Parliament,  three 
thousand  miles  off,  in  which  we  have  neither  voice  nor  vote,  own  us,  three 
million  people,  souls  and  bodies?  The  people  considered  the  matter, 
and  gradually  got  i-eady  to  fight  about  it,  seeing  no  more  "  divine  right" 
of  parliaments  than  of  kings,  which  last  had  been  "  unriddled  "  by  Dr. 
Mayhew  in  1750. 

The  plot  was  to  annul  the  charters,  reduce  the  popular  assemblies  to  a 
manageable  size,  and  increase  the  royal  appointments;  revise  all  the 
colonial  acts,  in  order  to  set  aside  those  which  provided  for  the  support 
of  the  ministers.  "But,  if  the  temper  of  the  people  makes  it  necessary, 
let  a  new  bill  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  them  pass  the  House,  and  the 
Council  refuse  their  concurrence ;  if  that  will  be  improper,  then  the  gover- 
nor to  negative  it.  If  that  cannot  be  done  in  good  policy,  then  the  bill  to 
go  home," —  that  is,  to  England,  —  "  and  let  the  king  disallow  it.  Let 
bishops  be  introduced,  and  provision  be  made  for  the  support  of  the  Epis- 
copal clergy.  Let  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  clergy  who  will 
receive  ordination  be  supported,  and  the  leading  ministers  among  them  be 
bought  off  by  large  salaries.  Let  the  liturgy  be  revised  and  altered.  Let 
Episcopacy  be  accommodated  as  much  as  possible  to  the  cast  of  the 
people.  Let  places  of  power,  trust,  and  honor  be  confen-ed  only  upon 
Episcopalians,  or  those  that  will  conform.  When  Episcopacy  is  once 
established,  increase  its  resemblance  to  the  English  hierarchy  at  pleasure  "!  i 

missary  of  Virginia  is  now  here,  with  a  view  of  prosecuting  the  scheme  of  an 
American  Episcopate.  He  is  an  artful,  though  not  an  able  man.  You  will  con- 
sider, sir,  in  your  wisdom,  Avhctlier  any  measures  on  your  side  may  contribute  to 
counteract  this  dangerous  innovation.  Regarding  it  as  threatening  the  subver- 
sion of  both  our  civil  and  religious  liberties,  it  shall  meet  with  all  the  opposition 
in  my  power."  To  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Massachusetts. 
1  Dr.  Stiles,  in  Gordon's  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  i.  102, 103.  ed. 
1794. 


Ill 


The  wealth  of  England  had  been  created  by  the  "  commercial  servi- 
tude "  i  of  her  American  colonies ;  and  not  only  this  monopoly  of  the 
colonial  trade,  but  the  commerce  itself,  was  endangered  by  the  aggressions 
of  France,  which  had  surrounded  the  English  colonies  by  a  chain  of  forts 
and  settlements  which  reached  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  To  save  her  commerced,  her  wealth,  and 
her  revenue,  England  drove  "  the  haughty  and  insolent  Gallic "  out  of 
Canada;  not  without  ruinous  drafts  of  men  and  money,  especially  from 
the  northern  colonies,  which  thereby  contracted  enormous  debts  and 
oppressive  taxes.  But  England  represented  her  own  debt  as  a  bill  in- 
curred for  the  benefit  of  the  colonies,  and  so  "  the  Commons  of  Great 
Britain  in  Parliament,  ...  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  further  reve- 
nue within  his  Majesty's  dominions  of  America,"  assumed  "  to  give  and 
grant "  to  his  Majesty  "  a  stamp  duty  "  of  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence, 
upon  all  sorts  of  documents  used  by  merchants,  lawyers,  in  courts  and 
custom-houses,  or  in  any  of  the  transactions  of  daily  life.  No  farmer  or 
tradesman  could  hang  an  "almanac"  in  the  chimney-corner  without 
paying  the  "  stamp  duty  of  twopence  "  or  "  fourpence  "  if  this  hated  act 
was  enforced.  But,  long  before  the  "  first  day  of  November,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  sixty-five," — the  day  when  it  was  to  take  effect, — 
there  burst  forth  in  the  colonies  such  a  universal  storm  of  wrath,  that  it 
was  suddenly  manifest  that  the  Church  of  England  gospel  of  implicit 
obedience  did  not  prevail  in  America. 

"  Your  Majesty's  Commons  in  Britian,"  said  Mr.  Burke,  "  undertake 
absolutely  to  dispose  of  the  property  of  their  fellow-subjects  in  America,  with- 
out their  consent,  .  .  .  for  they  are  not  represented  in  Parliament;  and 
indeed  we  think  it  impracticable ;  it  is  not  reconcilable  to  any  ideas  of 
liberty.  ...  I  only  say,  that  a  great  people,  who  have  their  property, 
without  any  reserve,  in  all  cases,  disposed  of  by  another  people  at  an  im- 
mense distance  from  them,  will  not  think  themselves  in  the  enjoyment  of 
freedom.  It  will  be  hard  to  show  to  those  who  are  in  such  a  state  which 
of  the  usual  parts  of  the  definition  or  description  of  a  free  people  are 
applicable  to  them.  ,  .  .  Tell  me  what  one  character  of  liberty  the 
Americans  have,  and  what  one  brand  of  slavery  they  are  free  from,  if 
they  are  bound  in  their  property  and  industry  by  all  the  restraints  you  can 
imagine  on  commerce,  and  at  the  same  time  are  made  pack-horses  of 
every  tax  you  choose  to  impose,  without  the  least  share  in  granting  them? 
When  they  bear  the  burdens  of  unlimited  monopoly,  will  you  bring  them 

1  Burke. 


112  editor's  prefatory  note. 

to  bear  the  burdens  of  unlimited  revenue  too?  The  Englishman  in 
America  will  feel  that  this  is  slavery;  that  it  is  legal  slaver}'-,  will  be  no 
compensation  either  to  his  feelings  or  understanding.  .  .  .  The  feel- 
ings of  the  colonies  were  formerly  the  feelings  of  Great  Britian;  theirs 
were  formerly  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Hampden  when  called  upon  for  the 
payment  of  twenty  shillings.  "Would  twenty  shillings  have  ruined  Mr. 
Hampden's  fortune?  No ;  but  the  payment  of  half  twenty  shillings,  on  the 
principle  upon  which  it  was  demanded,  would  have  made  him  a  slave." 

Among  the  "  Navigation  Acts"  was  one  of  6th  George  II.,  "An  Act  for 
the  better  securing  and  encouraging  the  Trade  of  his  ISIajesty's  Colonies  in 
America,"  which  was  commonly  called  the  "  Molasses  Act."  The  articles 
of  molasses  and  sugar,  it  was  demonstrated  by  Mr,  Otis,  entered  into 
every  branch  of  our  commerce,  fisheries,  manufactures,  and  agriculture. 
The  duty  of  sixpence  on  molasses  was  full  one-half  of  its  value,  and  its 
enforcement  would  have  ruined  commerce.  Mr.  Otis  roundly  declared  that 
if  the  King  of  Great  Britain  in  person  were  encamped  on  Boston  Com- 
mon, at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men,  with  all  his  navy  on  our  coast, 
he  would  not  be  able  to  execute  these  laws ;  for  "  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation was  tyranny."  This  was  in  17G2,  when  the  tyrannical  writs  of 
assistance'^  were  applied  for,  to  search  for  and  seize  smuggled  goods,  and 
under  which  the  sanctuary  of  no  home,  no  dwelling,  no  treasure  would  be 
sacred  from  the  pollution  and  violence  of  any  catchpole  ready  for  the 
odious  service,  backed  by  the  forms  of  law. 

John  Adams  said :  "  Wits  may  laugh  at  our  fondness  for  molasses,  and 
we  ought  all  to  join  in  the  laugh  with  as  much  good  humor  as  General 
Lincoln  did.  General  Washington,  however,  always  asserted  and  proved 
that  Virginians  loved  molasses  as  well  as  New  England  men  did.  I  know 
not  why  we  should  blush  to  confess  that  molasses  icas  an  essential  ingredient 
in  American  independence.  Many  great  events  have  proceeded  from  much 
smaller  causes." 

These  acts  were  repealed  while  America  was  in  open  resistance.  "See 
what  firmness  and  resolution  will  do,"  said  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  when  a  copy 
of  the  act  of  repeal  was  received  in  Boston.  With  this  act  of  repeal  was 
another,  simply  declaratory  of  the  authority  of  Parliament  to  bind  the 


1  Just  as  the  above  is  going  to  press,  there  is  brought  to  light,  by  Mr.  David 
Roberts,  an  original  volume  of  the  Salem  custom-house  records,  May  22,  1761— 
1775,  which  fills  an  important  gap  in  the  documentary  history  of  the  writs  of 
assistance.  —  Hist.  Collect.  Essex  lust.,  August,  18!30.  109. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  113 

colonies  "in  all  cases  whatsoever."  "But,"  said  Juxics,  "it  is  truly 
astonishing  that  .  .  .  they  should  have  conceived  that  a  compliance 
which  acknoidedged  the  rod  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  could  ever 
induce  them  to  surrender  it."  Mr.  Grenville  desired  Mr.  Knox's  opinion  of 
the  effects  which  the  repeal  would  produce  in  America.  The  answer  was, 
"Addresses  of  thanks  and  measures  of  rebellion." 

The  contemporary  accounts  from  every  part  of  the  colonies  show  that 
never  before  had  thei-e  been  such  rejoicings  in  America.  It  is  a  source  of 
supreme  satisfaction  to  reflect  that  Dr.  Mayhew  lived  to  share  in  this 
triumph  of  liberty. 

We  naturally  feel  a  certain  curiosity  as  to  the  places  which  are  associ- 
ated with  great  names  and  memorable  scenes.  Fortunately  we  have  a 
lively  description  of  the  Council  Chamber  as  it  was  when  James  Otis  so  elo- 
quently opposed  the  uWte  of  assistance,  written  by  one  who  then  heard  the 
great  patriot  lawyer,  and  was  familiar  with  its  aspect,  adornment,  and  fit- 
tings. "  "Whenever,"  said  the  venerable  Adams,  "  you  shall  find  a  painter, 
male  or  female,  I  pray  you  to  suggest  a  scene  and  subject:  The  scene  is 
the  Council  Chamber  of  the  Old  Town  House  in  Boston ;  the  date  is  the  month 
of  February,  1761.  That  Council  Chamber  was  as  respectable  an  apart- 
ment, and  more  so  too,  in  proportion,  than  the  House  of  Lords  or  House 
of  Commons  in  Gi'eat  Britain,  or  that  in  Philadelphia  in  which  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  was  signed  in  1776.  In  this  chamber,  near  the 
fire,  were  seated  five  judges,  with  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson  at 
their  head  as  Chief  Justice,  all  in  their  new,  fresh  robes  of  scarlet  English 
cloth,  in  their  broad  bands,  and  immense  judicial  wigs.  In  this  chamber 
was  seated,  at  a  long  table,  aU  the  barristers  of  Boston  and  its  neighboring 
county  of  Middlesex,  in  their  gowns,  bands,  and  tye-wigs.  They  wei-e 
not  seated  on  ivory  chairs,  but  their  dress  was  more  solemn  and  more 
pompous  than  that  of  the  Roman  senate  when  the  Gauls  broke  in  upon 
them.  In  a  comer  of  the  room  must  be  placed  wit,  sense,  imagination, 
genius,  pathos,  reason,  prudence,  eloquence,  learning,  science,  and  im- 
mense reading,  hung  by  the  shoulders  on  two  crutches,  covered  with  a 
cloth  great-coat,  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Pratt,  who  had  been  solicited  on 
both  sides,  but  would  engage  on  neither,  being  about  to  leave  Boston  for- 
ever, as  Chief  Justice  of  New  York.  Two  portraits,  at  more  than  full 
length,  of  King  Charles  the  Second  and  King  James  the  Second,  in 
splendid  golden  frames,  were  hung  up  on  the  most  conspicuous  side  of 
the  apartment.  If  my  young  eyes  or  old  memory  have  not  deceived  mc, 
these  were  the  finest  pictures  I  have  seen.    The  colors  of  their  long  flow- 

10* 


114  editor's  prefatory  note. 

ing  robes  and  their  royal  ermines  were  the  most  glowing,  the  figures  the 
most  noble  and  graceful,  the  features  the  most  distinct  and  characteristic: 
far  superior  to  those  of  tlic  King  and  Queen  of  France  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  of  Congress.  I  believe  they  were  Vandyke's.  Sure  I  am  there 
was  no  painter  in  England  capable  of  them  at  that  time.  They  had  been  • 
sent  over,  without  frames,  in  Governor  Pownall'stirae;  but,  as  he  was  no 
admirer  of  Charleses  or  Jameses,  they  were  stowed  away  in  a  garret  among 
rubbish  till  Governor  Bernard  came,  had  them  cleaned,  superbly  framed, 
and  placed  in  council  for  the  admiration  and  imitation  of  all  men,  no 
doubt  with  the  concurrence  of  Hutchinson  and  all  the  junto."     .     .     . 

"  Now  for  the  actors  and  performers.  Mr.  Gridley  argued  with  his 
characteristic  learning,  ingenuity,  and  dignity,  and  said  everything  that 
could  be  said  in  favor  of  Cockle's  petition;  all  depending,  however,  on 
the  —  *  If  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  is  the  sovereign  legislator  of 
all  the  British  empire.'  Mr.  Thatcher  followed  him,  on  the  other  side,  and 
argued  with  the  softness  of  manners,  the  ingenuity,  the  cool  reasoning 
which  were  peculiar  to  his  amiable  character.  But  Otis  was  a  flame  of 
fire.  With  a  promptitude  of  classical  allusions,  a  depth  of  research,  a 
rapid  summary  of  historical  events  and  dates,  a  profusion  of  legal  author- 
ities, a  prophetic  glare  of  his  eyes  into  futurity,  and  a  rapid  torrent  of 
impetuous  eloquence,  he  humed  away  all  before  him.  Amei'ican  Inde- 
pendence was  then  and  there  born.  The  seeds  of  patriots  and  heroes,  to 
defend  the  Non  Sine  Diis  Animosus  Infans,  to  defend  the  vigorous  youth, 
were  then  and  there  sown.  Every  man  of  an  immense  crowded  audience 
appeared  to  me  to  go  away,  as  I  did,  ready  to  take  arms  against  writs  of 
assistance.  Then  and  there  was  the  first  scene  of  the  first  act  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  arbitrary  claims  of  Great  Britain.  Then  and  there  the  child 
Independence  was  born.  In  fifteen  years  —  that  is,  in  1776  — he  grew  up 
to  manhood,  and  declared  himself  free." 

Dr.  Chauncy,  the  preacher,  was  one  of  the  greatest  divines  in  New 
England,  and  no  one  except  President  Edwards  and  Dr.  Jonathan  May- 
hew  had  been  so  much  known  among  the  literati  of  Europe.  He  was 
zealous  for  liberty,  and,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Mayhew,  continued  the  war 
against  its  most  specious  enemy  with  gi-eat  power  and  learning.  He  was 
born  January  1,  1705,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1721,  and  was 
pastor  of  the  first  church  in  Boston  from  1727  till  his  death  in  1787. 

This  sermon  —  an  admirable  historical  picture,  drawn  by  a  master, 
himself  a  leader  of  the  hosts  —  abounds  in  facts,  discusses  the  great  princi- 


editor's  prefatory  note. 


115 


pies  involved  with  energy  and  power,  and  with  the  calmness  and  precision 
of  the  statesman. 

The  following  witty  lines,  from  the  London  "  Craftsman  "  newspaper 
of  March  29th,  17(36,  give  a  Kvely  and  just  idea  of  the  effect  of  the  Stamp 
Act  on  British  industry,  temper,  and  politics. 


CHAPTER  IV.  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  AMERICA. 

1.  Tlie  men  of  the  cities  assemble.  3.  Tlieir  discourse  to  each  other.  11.  TJiey 
petition  the  Grand  Sanhedrim.  14.  The  lamentation  of  George  the  Treas- 
urer. 19.  Newspapers.  22.  And  hireling  Scribes.  25.  These  Scribes  write 
against  taking  off  the  tribute.  26.  The  subject  of  their  letters.  32.  They  jyre- 
vail  not.  34.  But  are  answered.  38.  The  tribute  taken  off.  39.  Great  rejoic- 
ings thereat.    41.  The  song  of  the  people. 


IIT  A  FTER  these  things  the  men 
-^^  of  London,  and  the  men  of 
Birmingham,  and  the  men  of  the  great 
cities  and  strong  towns;  even  all  who 
made  cloth,  and  worked  in  iron  and  in 
steel,  and  in  sundry  metals,  communed 
together. 

2  And  they  met  in  the  gates  of  their 
cities,  and  of  their  towns; 

3  IT  And  they  said  unto  each  other, 
Behold  now  the  children  of  America 
are  waxed  strong;  and  they  have  not 
only  opposed  the  men  who  were  sent 
by  George  the  Treasurer  to  collect  the 
tribute  on  the  marks  which  are  called 
stamjjs; 

4  But  they  make  unto  themselves  the 
wares  wherewith  we  were  wont  to  fur- 
nish them; 

5  And  they  will  buy  no  more  of  us 
unless  this  tribute  is  taken  off: 

6  And,  moreover,  they  cannot  pay 
unto  us  the  monies  which  they  owe; 
and  the  loss  is  great  unto  us,  and  the 
burthen  thereof  exceeding  grievous: 

7  Neither  can  we  give  bread  unto 
those  who  labored  for  us;  and  behold! 
they,  and  their  wives,  and  their  little 
ones,  have  not  bread  to  eat. 

8  Wliat  then  shall  we  do  ?  and 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  comforted? 

9  Shall  we  not  petition  our  Lord  the 
King,  and  his  Princes,  and  the  wise 
men  of  the  nation,  even  the  Grand 
Sanhedrim  of  the  natiou? 


10  For  we  know  that  they  are  good 
and  gracious,  and  will  hearken  to  the 
voice  of  the  people,  who  open  their 
mouths  and  cry  unto  them  for  bread. 

11  IT  Then  the  men  of  London,  and 
the  men  of  the  great  cities,  sat  them 
down  and  wrote  petitions. 

12  And  they  sent  men  from  amongst 
them,  that  were  goodly  men  to  look 
at ;  and  they  stood  before  the  Grand 
Sanhedrim  : 

13  And  they  presented  their  peti- 
tions, and  they  were  read,  and  days 
were  appointed  to  consider  them. 

14  51  Now  it  came  to  pass,  that  while 
these  things  were  doing,  that  George 
the  late  Treasurer,  and  those  who  had 
joined  in  laying  the  tribute  on  the 
stamps,  were  wroth,  and  their  coun- 
tenances fell ; 

15  And  they  said  in  themselves.  If 
this  tribute  is  taken  off,  then  William 
the  late  Scribe,  and  those  who  are  now 
in  authority,  and  who  have  taken  our 
places,  will  be  had  in  remembrance  of 
men. 

16  And  we  also  shall  be  had  in  re- 
membrance, but  it  will  be  with  evil 
remembrance  indeed. 

17  For  behold  the  people  will  say, 
It  is  loe  that  have cwrserf  the  land;  and 
it  is  they  who  have  blessed  it. 

18  Therefore  we  must  bestir  ourselves 
like  men,  to  oppose  the  taking  off  the 
tribute,  let  whatsoever  hap  besides. 


116 


EDITOR  S    PREFATORY    NOTE. 


19  IT  And  in  those  days  there  were 
papers  sold  daily  among  the  men  of 
Britain,  which  declared  those  which 
were  joined  in  marriage,  those  which 
were  gatliered  unto  their  fathers,  and 
those  who  had  found  favour  in  the  eyes 
of  the  King  and  his  rulers,  and  were 
exalted  above  their  brethren, 

20  And  also  of  whatsoever  was  done 
in  the  land. 

21  And  these  papers  were  called 
newspapers ;  and  all  men  read  them. 

22  H  And  there  were  certain  also 
Scribes  who  let  themselves  out  unto 
hire. 

23  And  one  of  the  chief  of  these  was 
a  Levite,  and  his  name  was  Anti  Se- 
janus. 

24  And  these  Scribes  were  hired  to 
poison  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  to 
cause  them  to  set  their  faces  against 
the  men  of  America  their  brethren. 

25  IT  Then  came  Anti  Sejanus,  and 
Pacificus,  and  Pro  Patria,  and  sun- 
dry other  children  of  Belial,  and  they 
wrote  letters  which  were  put  into  the 
newspapers. 

26  IT  And  they  said  in  those  letters. 
Men  and  brethren!  Behold,  the  men  of 
America  are  rich,  and  they  are  grown 
insolent,  being  full  of  bread ; 

27  And  they  are  not  mindful  of  the 
days  of  old  when  they  were  poor,  but 
they  would  withdraw  themselves  from 
under  the  wings  of  their  mother  Brit- 
ain. 

28  And  they  would  establish  them- 
Belves  as  a  people,  and  suffer  us  to  have 
no  power  over  them. 

29  Behold,  they  have  opposed  the 
edict,  and  they  are  become  as  rebels. 

30  Wherefore  then  go  we  not  forth 
with  a  strong  hand,  and  force  them 
unto  obedience  to  us? 

31  And  if  they  are  still  murmuring, 
and  shall  still  oppose  our  authority, 
why  do  we  not  send  fire  and  sword 
into  their  land,  and  cut  them  off  from 
the  face  of  the  earth? 

32  H  And  these  children  of  Belial 
who  dipped  their  pens  for  hire,  and 
would  scatter  plagues  in  wantonness, 
and  say,  This  is  sport  ; 


33  Even  these  men  wrote  still  more. 
Yet  they  prevailed  not. 

34  IT  For  they  were  answered.  So  the 
men  oi  America  are  our  brethren ;  they 
are  the  children  of  our  forefathers; 
and  shall  Ave  seek  their  blood?  If  they 
are  mistaken  shall  we  not  pity  them, 
and  keep  them  obedient  unto  us 
through  love? 

35  For  behold,  it  is  a  wise  saying  of 
old,  That  7na7i!j  flies  may  be  caught 
with  a  little  honey ;  but  loith  much 
vinegar  ye  can  catch  not  one. 

36  Neither  are  they  inclined  to  be  a 
people  of  themselves,  but  wish  yet  to 
be  under  our  Aving. 

37  And  the  counsel  of  these  men  pre- 
vailed; for  the  counsel  of  the  hireling 
Scribes  was  defeated ;  even  as  was  the 
counsel  of  Achitophel  in  the  days  of 
David,  King  of  Israel. 

38  IT  For  behold,  the  Grand  Sanhe- 
drim took  off  the  tribute  from  the  peo- 
ple; and  George  the  gracious  King 
of  Britain  assented  thereto. 

39  IF  Then  were  great  rejoicings  made 
throughout  the  land;  and  fires  were 
lighted  up  in  the  streets,  and  the  people 
eat,  drank,  and  were  merry. 

40  And  they  sang  a  new  song,  saying, 

41  H  Long  live  the  King ;  let  his  name 
be  glorious,  and  may  his  rule  over  us  be 
happy. 

42  And  may  the  princes  and  the  rul- 
ers of  the  land,  and  the  wise  men  of 
the  Lord  the  King,  and  all  those  who 
joined  to  take  off  this  tribute,  be  blessed. 

43  For  they  have  listened  unto  the 
cries  of  the  people,  and  have  given  ear 
unto  the  voice  of  calamity;  they  have 
procured  the  payment  of  the  debts  of 
the  merchants  of  this  land,  ease  to  the 
children  of  America,  and  labor  and 
bread  to  the  poor. 

44  And  the  women  shall  sing  their 
praises;  and  the  little  children  shall 
lisp  out,  Bless  the  King  and  his  San- 
hedrim. 

45  For  we  were  desolate  and  dis- 
tressed ;  our  hammers  and  our  shuttles 
were  useless;  lor  we  got  no  work ;  nei- 
ther had  we  bread  to  cat  for  ourselves, 
nor  our  little  ones. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  117 


46  But  now  can  we  work,  rejoice,  of  the  hirelings  there  was  shame,  and 
nd  be  exceeding  glad.  the  scorn  of  all  good  men   fell  upon 

47  And  there  was  peace  in  the  land.  them,  and  their  employers,  so  that  their 

48  But  to  Anti  Sejanus  and  the  rest  names  were  had  in  abomination. 


BY   HIS   EXCELLENCY 

FRANCIS    BERNARD,    ESQ., 

Captain-General  and  Governor-in- Chief  in  and  over  His  Bfajesty's  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  and  Vice-Adniiral  of  the  same. 

A   PROCLAMATION 

FOR    A   DAY    OF   PUBLIC   THANKSGIVING. 

Whereas  the  House  of  Representatives  of  this  Province  havin<?  in  the 
last  session  taken  into  their  consideration  the  kind  interposition  of  Prov- 
idence in  disposing  our  most  gi'acious  Sovereign  and  both  Houses  of 
Parliament  to  hearken  to  the  united  supplications  of  his  dutiful  and  loyal 
Subjects  in  America,  and  to  remove  the  gi-eat  difficulties  which  the  Colo- 
nies in  general,  and  this  Province  in  particular,  labored  under,  occasioned 
by  the  Stamp  Act,  did  resolve  that  the  Governor  be  desired  to  appoint  a 
Day  of  General  Thanksgiving  to  be  observed  throughout  this  Province, 
that  the  good  People  thereof  may  have  an  opportunity  in  a  public  man- 
ner to  express  their  Gratitude  to  Almighty  GOD  for  his  great  Goodness 
in  thus  delivering  them  from  their  Anxiety  and  Distress  and  restoring  the 
Province  to  its  former  Peace  and  Tranquillity:  which  Resolution  was  con- 
curred in  by  the  Council,  and  has  since  been  laid  before  me : 

In  pursuance  of  such  Desire,  so  signified  unto  me,  I  have  thought  fit  to 
appoint,  and  I  do,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  his  Majesty's  Council,  ap- 
point Thursday,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  this  instant  July,  to  be  a  Day 
of  Prayer  and  Thanksgiving ;  that  the  ministers  of  God's  holy  word  may 
thereupon  assemble  to  return  Thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  his  Mercies 
aforesaid,  and  to  desire  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  give  his  People  Grace 
to  make  a  right  improvement  of  them,  by  observing  and  promoting  a 
dutiful  Submission  to  the  Sovereign  Power  to  which  they  are  subordinate, 
and  a  brotherly  Love  and  Affection  to  that  People  from  whom  they  are 
derived,  and  to  whom  they  are  nearly  related  by  civil  Policy  and  mutual 
interests. 

And  I  command  and  enjoin  all  Magistrates  and  Civil  Officers  to  see 


118 


that  said  Day  be  observed  as  a  Day  set  apart  for  Religious  Worship,  and 
that  no  servile  Labor  be  permitted  therein. 

Given  at  the  Council  Chamber  in  Boston,  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1766, 
in  the  Sixth  year  of  the  Reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  GEORGE  the 
Third,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland, 
KING,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc. 

FRA.   BERNARD. 
By  His  Excellency's  Command. 

John  Cotton,  Dept.  Sec'y. 


(&G)i  SHbc  i\z  |lin0. 


DISCOURSE    II 


A  THAXKSGIVIXG  SERMON. 


AS    COLD    WATERS    TO    A    THIRSTT     SOUL,    SO    IS    GOOD     KEWS     FROit     A     FAB 

cou>TRY.  —  Proverbs  xxv.  25. 


Wb  are  so  formed  by  the  God  of  nature,  doubtless  for 
wise  and  good  ends,  that  the  uneasy  sensation  to  which 
we  give  the  name  of  thirst  is  an  inseparable  attendant  on 
the  want  of  some  proper  liquid ;  and  as  this  want  is  in- 
creased, such  proportionably  will  be  the  increase  of  un- 
easiness; and  the  uneasiness  may  gradually  heighten,  till 
it  throws  one  into  a  state  that  is  truly  tormenting.  The 
application  of  cooling  drink  is  fitted,  by  an  established  law 
of  heaven,  not  only  to  remove  away  this  uneasiness,  but 
to  give  pleasure  in  the  doing  of  it,  by  its  manner  of  acting 
upon  the  organs  of  taste.  There  is  scarce  a  keener  per- 
ception of  pleasure  than  that  which  is  felt  by  one  that  is 
athirst  upon  being  satisfied  with  agreeable  drink.  Hence 
the  desire  of  spiritual  good  things,  in  those  who  have  had 
excited  in  them  a  serious  sense  of  God  and  religion,  is 
represented,  in  the  sacred  books,  by  the  "  cravings  of  a 
thirsty  man  after  drink."  Hence  the  devout  David,  when 
he  would  express  the  longing  of  his  soul  to  "  appear  be- 
fore God  in  his  sanctuary,"  resembles  it  to  the  "  panting 
of  a  hart  after  the  water-brooks."  In  like  manner,  "  cold 
water  to  a  thirsty  soul "  is  the  image  under  which  the  wise 
man  would  signify,  in  my  text,  the  gratefulness  of  "good 


120  A   THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

news."  'T  is  refresliiug  to  the  soul,  as  cold  waters  to  the 
tongue  when  parched  with  thirst.  Especially  is  good 
news  adapted  to  affect  the  heart  with  pleasure  when  it 
comes  "from  a  far  country,"  and  is  big  with  important 
blessings,  not  to  a  few  individuals  only,  but  to  communi- 
ties, and  numbers  of  them  scattered  over  a  largely  ex- 
tended continent. 

Such  is  the  "good  news"  lately  brought  us^  from  the 
other  side  the  great  waters.  No  news  handed  to  us  from 
Great  Britain  ever  gave  us  a  quicker  sense,  or  higher  de- 
gree, of  pleasure.  It  rapidly  spread  through  the  colonies, 
and,  as  it  passed  along,  opened  in  all  hearts  the  springs  of 


1  The  Massachusetts  Gazette  Extraordinary,  Thursday,  April  3,  1766, 
contains  an  account  of  the  earliest  rumor  in  Boston  of  the  repeal,  and  of 
the  public  enthusiasm :  —  "  Upon  a  Report  from  Philadelphia  of  the  Re- 
peal of  the  Stamp  Act,  on  Tuesday  last,  a  great  Number  of  Persons  assem- 
bled under  Liberty  Tree,"  —  near  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Washington 
streets,  —  "  where  two  Field  Pieces  were  carried,  a  Royal  Salute  fired, 
and  three  Huzzas  given  on  such  a  joyful  Piece  of  Intelligence.  A  con- 
siderable Number  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Town  assembled  at  Faneuil- 
Hall  on  Tuesday  last,  when  they  made  choice  of  the  Hon,  James  Otis, 
Esq.,  as  Moderator  of  the  Meeting.  The  Moderator  then  acquainted  the 
Assembl}^  that  the  Probability  of  very  soon  receiving  authentic  Accounts 
of  the  absolute  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  had  occasioned  the  present  Meet- 
ing; and  as  this  would  be  an  Event  in  which  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Me- 
tropolis, as  well  as  North  America,  would  have  the  greatest  Occasion  of 
Joy,  it  was  thought  expedient  by  many  that  this  Meeting  should  come 
into  Measures  for  fixing  the  Time  when  those  Rejoicings  should  be  made, 
and  the  Manner  in  which  they  should  be  conducted;  — whereupon  it  was 

"  Voted,  That  the  Selectmen  be  desired,  when  they  shall  hear  the  certain 
News  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  to  fix  upon  a  Time  for  general 
Rejoicings;  and  that  they  give  the  Inhabitants  seasonable  Notice  in  such 
Manner  as  they  shall  think  best."  The  expressions  of  joy  were  as  ex- 
travagant throughout  England  as  they  were  in  the  colonies.  "  There 
were  upwards  of  twenty  men,  booted  and  spurred,  in  the  lobby  of  the 
Hon.  House  of  Commons,  ready  to  be  dispatched  express,  by  the  mer- 
chants, to  the  different  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  upon  this 
important  affair." —  Ed. 


ON    THE    REPEAL    OF   THE    STAMP  ACT.  121 

joy.  The  emotion  of  a  soul  just  famished  with  thirst 
upon  taking  down  a  full  draught  of  cold  water  is  but  a 
faint  emblem  of  the  superior  gladness  with  which  we  were 
universally  filled  upon  this  great  occasion.  That  was  the 
language  of  our  mouths,  signifying  the  pleasurable  state 
of  our  minds,  "As  cold  waters  to  a  thirsty  soul,  so  is  this 
good  news  from  a  far  country." 

What  I  have  in  view  is,  to  take  occasion,  from  these 
words,  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  important  ar- 
ticles contained  in  the  good  news  we  have  heard,  which 
so  powerfully  fit  it  to  excite  a  pungent  sense  of  pleasure 
in  the  breasts  of  all  that  inhabit  these  American  lands. 
The  way  will  then  be  prepared  to  jooint  out  to  you  the 
wisest  and  best  use  we  can  make  of  these  glad  tidings 
"  from  a  far  country." 

The  first  article  in  this  "good  news,"  obviously  present- 
ing itself  to  consideration,  is  the  kind  and  righteous  re- 
gard the  supreme  authority^  in  England,  to  which  we 
inviolably  owe  submission,  has  paid  to  the  "commercial 
good  "  of  the  nation  at  home,  and  its  dependent  provinces 
and  islands.  One  of  the  expressly  assigned  reasons  for 
the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  is  declared  in  these  words : 
"Whereas  the  continuance  of  said  act  may  be  productive 
of  consequences  greatly  detrimental  to  the  commercial 
interests  of  these  kingdoms,  may  it  therefore  please  " — 
The  English  colonies  and  islands  are  certainly  included  in 

1  This  doctrine  was  expressed  by  Mr.  James  Otis,  early  in  1764,  that  we 
"  ought  to  yield  obedience  to  an  Act  of  Parliament,  though  erroneous,  till 
repealed."  And  by  the  Council  and  House  of  Representatives,  Nov.  3d, 
1764 :  "  We  acknowledge  it  to  be  our  duty  to  yield  obedience  to  it  while 
it  continues  unrepealed."  But  want  of  representation,  and,  next,  that  the 
colonies  were  not  within  the  realm,  soon  led  to  a  denial  of  the  authority 
of  Parliament,  for  a  submission  to  a  tax  of  a  farthing  would  have  aban- 
doned the  great  principle.  It  was  not  the  amount  of  the  tax,  but  the 
right  to  tax,  that  was  in  issue.     "  In  for  a  penny,  in  for  a  pound."  —  Ed, 

11 


122  A    THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

the  words  "these  kingdoms,"^  for  they  are  as  truly  parts 
of  them  as  either  Scotland,  Ireland,  or  even  England 
itself.  It  was  therefore  with  a  professed  view  to  the  com- 
mercial good,  not  only  of  the  nation  at  home,  but  of  the 
plantations  also  abroad,  that  the  authority  of  the  British 
King  and  Parliament  interposed  to  render  null  and  void 
that  act,  which,  had  it  been  continued  in  force,  might  in 
its  consequences  have  tended  to  the  hurt  of  this  grand  in- 
terest, inseparably  connected  with  the  welfare  of  both. 
From  what  more  noble  source  could  a  repeal  of  this  act 
have  proceeded  ?  !N"ot  merely  the  repeal,  but  that  benev- 
olent, righteous  regard  to  the  public  good  which  gave  it 
birth,  is  an  important  ingredient  in  the  news  that  has 
made  us  glad.  And  wherein  could  this  "good  news" 
have  been  better  adapted  to  soften  our  hearts,  soothe  our 
passions,  and  excite  in  us  the  sensations  of  unmingled  joy  ? 
What  that  is  conducive  to  our  real  happiness  may  we  not 
expect  from  a  King  and  Parliament  whose  regard  to  "  the 
commercial  interest"^  of  the  British  kingdoms  has  over- 


1  That  "  the  colonies  were  without  the  realm  and  jurisdiction  of  Parlia- 
ment," was  demonstrated  in  the  learned  and  able  answers  of  the  Council 
and  House  of  Representatives  to  Governor  Hutchinson's  speech  of  Janu- 
ary 6,  1773 :  "  Your  Excellency  tells  us,  '  you  know  of  no  line  that  can  be 
drawn  between  the  supreme  authority  of  Parliament  and  the  total  inde- 
pendence of  the  colonies.'  If  there  be  no  such  line,  the  consequence  is, 
either  that  the  colonies  are  the  vassals  of  the  Parliament,  or  that  they  are 
totally  independent."  In  his  gratitude.  Dr.  Chauncy  took  quite  too  gen- 
erous a  view  of  the  "repeal."  The  interests  of  the  colonies  were  always 
subordinate.  The  Navigation  Act,  12th  Chas.  II.  ch.  19,  and  the  colonial 
policy  of  England,  as  of  all  nations,  considered  only  the  interests  of  the 
realm.  —  Ed. 

2  Mr.  Burke,  in  his  speech  on  "  American  taxation,"  years  afterward, 
1771,  said  the  laws  were  repealed  "  because  they  raised  a  flame  in  Amer- 
ica, for  reasons  political,  not  commercial:  as  Lord  Hillsborough's  letter 
well  expresses  it,  to  regain  '  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  colonies, 
on  which  the  glory  and  safety  of  the  British  empire  depend.'  "  —  Ed. 


ON   THE   REPEAL    OF   THE    STAMP   ACT.  123 

powered  all  opposition  from  resentment,  the  display  of 
sovereign  pleasure,  or  whatever  other  cause,  and  influ- 
enced them  to  give  np  even  a  crown  revenue  for  the  sake 
of  a  greater  national  good !  With  what  confidence  may 
we  rely  upon  such  a  supreme  legislature  for  the  redress  of 
all  grievances,  especially  in  the  article  of  trade,  and  the 
devising  every  wise  and  fit  method  to  put  and  keep  it  in  a 
flourishing  state !  Should  anything,  in  time  to  come,  un- 
happily be  brought  into  event  detrimental  in  its  operation 
to  the  commerce  between  the  mother  country  and  these 
colonies,  through  misrepresentations  from  "  lovers  of  them- 
selves more  than  lovers  "  of  their  king  and  country,  may 
we  not  encourage  ourselves  to  hope  that  the  like  generous 
public  spirit  that  has  relieved  us  now  wdll  again  interpose 
itself  on  our  behalf?  Happy  are  we  in  being  under  the 
government  of  a  King  and  Parliament  w^ho  can  rejDcal  as 
well  as  enact  a  law,  upon  a  view  of  it  as  tending  to  the 
public  happiness.  How  preferable  is  our  condition  to 
theirs  who  have  nothing  to  expect  but  from  the  arbitrary 
will  of  those  to  whom  they  are  slaves^  rather  than  sub- 
jects! 

Another  thing,  giving  us  singular  pleasure,  contained  in 
this  "  good  news,"  is,  the  total  removal  of  a  grievous  bur- 
den we  must  have  sunk  under  had  it  been  continued. 
Had  the  real  state  of  the  colonies  been  as  well  known  at 
home  as  it  is  here,  it  is  not  easily  supposable  any  there 
would  have  thought  the  tax  imposed  on  us  by  the  Stamp 
Act  was  suitably  adjusted  to  our  circumstances  and  abili- 
ties.    There  is  scarce  a  man  ^  in  any  of  the  colonies,  cer- 

1  "  If  we  are  not  represented,  we  are  slaves."  —  Letter  to  Massachusetts 
agent,  June  13,  1764.  — Ed. 

2  Mr.  Burke,  in  1763,  showing  the  difficulties  of  American  representation 
in  Parliament,  said:  "  Some  of  the  most  considerable  provinces  of  Amer- 
ica —  such,  for  instance,  as  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  Baj^  —  have  not 


124  A   THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

tainly  there  is  not  in  the  New  England  ones,  that  would 
be  deemed  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  rich  man  in  Great 
Britain.  There  may  be  here  and  there  a  rare  instance  of 
one  that  may  have  acquired  twenty,  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  —  and  this  is  the  most  that  can 
be  made  of  what  they  maybe  thought  worth,  —  but  for 
the  rest,  they  are,  generally  speaking,  in  a  low  condition, 
or,  at  best,  not  greatly  rising  above  it ;  though  in  different 
degrees,  variously  placing  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
necessities  and  comforts  of  life.  And  such  it  might  natu- 
rally be  expected  would  be  the  true  state  of  the  colonists; 
as  the  lands  they  possess  in  this  new  country  could  not 
have  been  subdued  and  fitted  for  profitable  use  but  by 
labor  too  expensive  to  allow  of  their  being,  at  present, 
much  increased  in  wealth.  This  labor,  indeed,  may  prop- 
erly be  considered  as  a  natural  tax,  w^hich,  though  it  has 
made  way  for  an  astonishing  increase  of  subjects  to  the 
British  empire,  greatly  adding  to  its  dignity  and  strength, 
has  yet  been  the  occasion  of  keeping  us  poor  and  low.  It 
ought  also  to  be  remembered  the  occasions,  in  a  new 
country,  for  the  grant  or  purchase  of  property,  with  the 
obligations  arising  therefrom,  and  in  instances  of  compara- 
tively small  value,  are  unavoidably  more  numerous  than 
in  those  that  have  been  long  settled.  The  occasions,  also, 
for  recourse  to  the  law  are  in  like  manner  vastly  multi- 
plied ;  for  which  reason  the  same  tax  by  stamped  paper 
would  take  vastly  more,  in  proportion,  from  the  people 


in  each  of  them  two  men  who  can  afford,  at  a  distance  from  their  estates, 
to  spend  a  thousand  pounds  a  year.  How  can  these  provinces  be  repre- 
sented at  Westminster?"  Governor  Pownall,  at  Boston,  Sept.  6th,  1757, 
wrote  to  Admiral  Holbourn :  "  I  am  here  at  the  head  and  lead  of  what  is 
called  a  rich,  flourishing^,  powerful,  enterprising  country.  'Tis  all  puff, 
'tis  all  false;  they  are  ruined  and  undone  in  their  circumstances.  The 
first  act  I  passed  was  an  Act  for  the  Relief  of  Bankrupts."  —  Ed. 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT.      125 

here  than  in  England.  And  what  would  have  rendered 
this  duty  the  more'  hard  and  severe  is,  that  it  must  have 
been  paid  in  addition  to  the  government  tax  here,^  which 

1  Massachusetts,  of  about  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  inhabitants, 
expended  in  the  war  eight  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, for  four  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  pounds  of  which  she  had  no 
compensation.  Connecticut,  with  only  one  hundred  and  forty-six  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  expended,  exclusive  of  Parliament  grants,  upwards  of 
four  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  Dr.  Belknap's  pertinent  inquiry, 
in  view  of  the  parliamentary  pretence  for  their  revenue  acts  "  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  protecting,  defending,  and  securing "  the  colonies,  was, 
"  If  we  had  not  done  our  part  toward  the  protection  and  defence  of  our 
country,  why  were  our  expenditures  reimbursed  by  Parliament,"  even  in 
part?  Dr.  Trumbull  says  that  Massachusetts  annually  sent  into  the  field 
five  thousand  five  hundred  men,  and  one  year  seven  thousand.  Connecti- 
cut had  about  three  thousand  men  in  the  field,  and  for  some  time  six  thou- 
sand, and  for  some  years  these  two  colonies  alone  furnished  ten  thousand 
men  in  actual  service.  Pennsylvania  disbursed  about  five  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  was  reimbursed  only  about  sixty  thousand  pounds. 
New  Hampshire,  New  York,  and  especially  Rhode  Island  in  her  naval  en- 
terprise, displayed  like  zeal.  Probably  twenty  thousand  of  these  men 
were  lost,  —  "  the  most  firm  and  hardy  young  men,  the  flower  of  their 
country."  Many  others  were  maimed  and  enervated.  The  population 
and  settlement  of  the  country  Avas  retarded,  husbandry  and  commerce 
were  injured.  "  At  the  same  time,  the  war  was  imfriendly  to  literature, 
destructive  of  domestic  happiness,  and  injm-ious  to  piety  and  the  social 
virtues." 

In  1762  Mr.  Otis  said :  "  This  province  "  —  Massachusetts  —  "  has,  since 
the  year  1754,  levied  for  his  Majesty's  service,  as  soldiers  and  seamen,  near 
thirty  thousand  men,  besides  what  have  been  otherwise  employed.  One 
year  in  particular  it  was  said  that  every  fifth  man  was  engaged,  in  one 
shape  or  another.  "We  have  raised  sums  for  the  support  of  this  war  that 
the  last  generation  could  have  hardly  formed  any  idea  of.  We  are  now 
deeply  in  debt." 

Mr.  Burke,  in  1775,  cited  from  their  records  "  the  repeated  acknowledg- 
ment of  Parliament  that  the  colonies  not  only  gave,  but  gave  to  satiety. 
This  nation  has  formally  acknowledged  two  things :  first,  that  the  colonies 
had  gone  beyond  their  abilities  —  Parliament  having  thought  it  necessary 
to  reimburse  them;  secondly,  that  they  had  acted  legally  and  laudably  in 
their  grants  of  money  and  their  maintenance  of  troops,  since  the  compen- 
sation is  expressly  given  as  a  reward  and  encouragement."    Indeed,  the 

11* 


126  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

was,  I  have  good  reason  to  think,  more  heavy  on  us  in  the 
late  war,  and  is  so  still,  on  account  of  the  great  debt  then 
contracted,  at  least  in  this  province,  in  proportion  to  our 
numbers  and  abilities,  than  that  which,  in  every  way,  was 
laid  on  the  people  either  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  or  England.* 
This,  if  mentioned  cursorily,  was  never,  that  I  remember, 
enlarged  upon  and  set  in  a  striking  light  in  any  of  the 
papers  written  in  the  late  times,  as  it  might  easily  have 
been  done,  and  to  good  purpose.     Besides  all  which,  it  is 


a  I  have  been  assured,  by  a  gentleman  of  reputation  and  fortune  in  this  town, 
that  in  the  late  time  of  war  he  sent  one  of  his  rate-bills  to  a  correspondent  of 
note  in  London  for  his  judgment  upon  it,  and  had  this  answer  in  return  from 
his  friend  :  "  That  he  did  not  believe  there  was  a  man  in  all  England  who  paid 
so  much,  in  proportion,  towards  the  support  of  the  government."  It  will  render 
the  above  account  the  more  easily  credible  if  I  inform  the  reader  that  I  have 
lately  and  purposely  conversed  with  one  of  the  assessors  of  this  town,  who  has 
been  annually  chosen  by  them  into  this  office  for  a  great  number  of  years,  for 
which  reason  he  may  be  thought  a  person  of  integrity,  and  one  that  may  be  de- 
pended on,  and  he  declares  to  me  that  the  assessment  upon  this  town,  particularly 
in  one  of  the  years  when  the  tax  on  account  of  the  war  was  great,  was  as  fol- 
lows :  On  personal  estate,  thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence  on  the  pound;  that  is 
to  say,  if  a  man's  income  from  money  at  interest,  or  in  any  other  way,  was  sixty 
pounds  per  annum,  he  was  assessed  sixty  times  thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence, 
and  in  this  proportion,  whether  the  sum  was  more  or  less.  On  real  estate  the 
assessment  was  at  the  rate  of  six  years'  income;  that  is  to  say,  if  a  man's  house 
or  land  was  valued  at  two  hundred  pounds  per  annum  income,  this  two  hundred 
pounds  was  multiplied  by  six,  amounting  to  twelve  hundred  pounds,  and  the 
interest  of  this  twelve  hundred  pounds  —  that  is,  seventy-two  pounds  —  was  the 
sum  he  was  obliged  to  pay.  Besides  this,  the  rate  upon  every  man's  poll,  and 
the  polls  of  all  the  males  in  his  house  upwards  of  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  about 
nineteen  shillings  lawful  money,  which  is  only  one  quarter  part  short  of  sterling. 
Over  and  above  all  this,  they  paid  their  part  of  an  excise  that  was  laid  upon  tea, 
coffee,  rum,  and  wine,  amounting  to  a  very  considerable  sum. 

How  it  was  in  the  other  provinces,  or  in  the  other  towns  of  this,  I  know  not; 
but  it  may  be  relied  on  as  fact,  that  this  was  the  tax  levied  upon  the  town  of 
Boston  ;  and  it  has  been  great  ever  since,  though  not  so  enormously  so  as  at  that 
time.  Every  one  may  now  judge  whether  we  had  not  abundant  reason  for 
mournful  complaint  when,  in  addition  to  the  vast  sums  —  considering  our 
numbers  and  abilities  —  we  were  obliged  to  pay,  we  were  loaded  with  the  stamp 
duty,  which  would  in  a  few  years  have  taken  away  all  our  money,  and  rendered 
us  absolutely  incapable  either  of  supporting  the  government  here  or  of  carrying 
on  any  sort  of  commerce,  unless  by  an  exchange  of  commodities. 

"  Albany  Plan  of  Union,"  a  scheme  by  which  America  could  protect  her- 
self against  France,  had  been  sent  "  home"  for  government  approbation; 
but  it  was  not  sanctioned.  —  Ed. 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT.      127 

undoubtedly  true  that  the  circulating  money  in  all  the 
colonies  would  not  have  been  sufficient  to  have  paid  the 
stamp  duty  only  for  two  years  ;^  and  an  effectual  bar  was 
put  in  the  way  of  the  introduction  •f  more^  by  the  re- 
straints that  were  laid  upon  our  trade  in  those  instances 
wherein  it  might  in  some  measure  have  been  procured. 

It  was  this  grievance  that  occasioned  the  bitter  com- 
plaint all  over  these  lands :  "  We  are  denied  straw,  and 
yet  the  full  tale  of  bricks  is  required  of  us ! "  Or,  as  it 
was  otherwise  uttered,  We  must  soon  be  obliged  "to 
borrow  money  for  the  king's  tribute,  and  that  upon  our 
lands.  Yet  now  our  flesh  is  as  the  flesh  of  our  brethren, 
our  children  as  their  children  :  and  lo  !  we  must  bring 
into  bondasje  our  sons  and  our  daus^hters  to  be  servants." 
We  should  have  been  stupid  had  not  a  spirit  been  excited 
in  us  to   apply,  in   all  reasonable    ways,  for  the  removal 


1  Dr.  Franklin  testified,  in  1766:  "In  my  opinion  there  is  not  gold  and 
silver  enough  in  the  colonies  to  pay  the  stamp  duty  for  one  year."  —  Ed. 

2  "  Most  of  our  silver  and  gold,  .  .  .  great  part  of  the  revenue  of 
these  kingdoms,  .  .  .  great  part  of  the  wealth  we  see,"  says  an  Eng- 
lish statistical  writer  of  1755,  we  "have  from  the  northern  colonies." 
This  silver  and  gold  was  obtained  by  the  colonial  trade  with  the  "West 
Indies,  and  other  markets,  where  fish,  rice,  and  other  colonial  products 
and  British  manufactures  were  sold  or  bartered.  This  coin,  or  bullion, 
was  remitted  to  English  merchants,  monopolists,  who  always  held  a 
balance  against  the  colonists.  "The  northern  provinces  import  from 
Great  Britain  ten  times  more  than  they  send  in  return  to  us." — Burke. 
This  left  very  little  "  circulating  money"  in  their  hands,  and  much  of  their 
trade  had  to  be  done  by  barter.  The  act  of  April  5,  17G4,  for  raising  a 
revenue  in  America,  exacted  the  duties  in  specie,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  "regulations"  for  restricting  their  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  enforced 
by  armed  vessels  and  custom  officers,  cruising  on  our  coasts,  suddenly 
destroyed  this  best  portion  of  their  commerce,  and  the  flow  of  gold  and 
silver  through  New  England  hands  as  quickly  ceased.  This  spread  a 
universal  consternation  throughout  the  colonies,  and  they  likened  the 
threatened  slavery  under  George  III.  and  the  Parliament  to  the  Hebrew 
bondage  to  Pharaoh.  —  Ed, 


128  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

of  SO  insupportable  a  burden.  And  such  a  union  in  spirit 
was  never  before  seen  in  the  colonies,  nor  was  there  ever 
such  universal  joy,  as  upon  the  news  of  our  deliverance 
from  that  which  fhight  have  proved  a  yoke  the  most 
grievous  that  was  ever  laid  upon  our  necks.  It  affected 
in  all  hearts  the  lively  perceptions  of  pleasure,  filling  our 
mouths  with  laughter.  No  man  appeared  without  a  smile 
in  his  countenance.  No  one  met  his  friend  but  he  bid 
him  joy.  That  was  our  united  song  of  praise,  "  Thou  hast 
turned  for  us  our  mourning  into  dancing ;  thou  hast  put 
off  our  sackcloth,  and  girded  us  with  gladness.  Our 
glory  [our  tongue]  shall  sing  praise  to  thee,  and  not  be 
silent :  O  Lord  our  God !  we  will  give  thanks  to  thee 
forever." 

Another  thing  in  this  "news,"  making  it  "good,"  is,  the 
hopeful  prospect  it  gives  us  of  being  continued  in  the 
enjoyment  of  certain  liberties  and  privileges,  valued  by  us 
next  to  life  itself.  Such  are  those  of  being  "tried  by  our 
equals,"  and  of  "  making  grants  for  the  support  of  govern- 
ment of  that  which  is  our  own,  either  in  person  or  by 
representatives  we  have  chosen  for  the  purpose."  Whether 
the  colonists  were  invested  with  a  right  to  these  liberties 
and  privileges  which  ought  not  to  be  wrested  from  them, 
or  whether  they  were  not,  't  is  the  truth  of  fact  that  they 
really  thought  they  were ;  all  of  them,  as  natural  heirs  to 
it  by  being  born  subjects  to  the  British  crown,  and  some 
of  them  by  additional  charter-grants,  the  legality  of  which, 
instead  of  being  contested,  have  all  along,  from  the  days 
of  our  fathers,  been  assented  to  and  allowed  of  by  the 
supreme  authority  at  home.  And  they  imagined,  whether 
justly  or  not  I  dispute  not,  that  their  right  to  the  full  and 
free  enjoyment  of  these  privileges  was  their  righteous  due, 
in  consequence  of  what  they  and  their  forefathers  had  done 
and  suffered  in  subduing  and  defending  these  American 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OE  THE  STAMP  ACT.      129 

lands,  not  only  for  their  own  support,  but  to  add  extent, 
strength,  and  glory  to  the  British  crown.  And  as  it  had 
been  early  and  deeply  impressed  on  their  minds  that  their 
charter  privileges  were  rights  that  had  been  dearly  paid 
for  by  a  vast  expense  of  blood,  treasure,  and  labor,^  with- 
out which  this  continent  must  have  still  remained  in  a 
wilderness  state  and  the  property  of  savages  only,  it  could 
not  but  strongly  put  in  motion  their  passion  of  grief  when 
they  were  laid  under  a  parliamentary  restraint  as  to  the 
exercise  of  that  liberty  they  esteemed  their  greatest  glory. 
It  was  eminently  this  that  filled  their  minds  with  jealousy, 
and  at  length  a  settled  fear,  lest  they  should  gradually  be 
brought  into  a  state  of  the  most  abject  slavery.  This  it  was 
that  gave  rise  to  the  cry,  which  became  general  throughout 
the  colonies,  "  We  shall  be  made  to  serve  as  bond-ser- 
vants ;  our  lives  will  be  bitter  with  hard  bondage."  Nor 
were  the  Jews  more  pleased  with  the  royal  provision  in 
their  day,  which,  under  God,  delivered  them  from  their 
bondage  in  Egypt,  than  were  the  colonists  with  the  repeal 
of  that  act  which  had  so  greatly  alarmed  their  fears  and 
troubled  their  hearts.  It  was  to  them  as  "  life  from  the 
dead."  They  "rejoiced  and  were  glad."  And  it  gave 
strength  and  vigor  to  their  joy,  while  they  looked  upon 
this  repeal  not  merely  as  taking  off  the  grievous  restraint 
that  had  been  laid  upon  their  liberties  and  privileges,  but 
as  containing  in  it  an  intention  of  continued  indulgence^ 

1  These  various  considerations  were  set  forth  at  length  in  statements  of 
the  services  and  expenses  of  the  colonies,  which  were  sent  to  England  to 
furnish  the  colonial  agents  with  arguments  why  the  colonies  should  not 
be  taxed.  —  Ed. 

2  The  colonists  claimed  the  repeal  as  matter  of  right,  and  not  of  favor. 
The  English  merchants  urged  it  as  a  commercial  necessity,  and  the  politi- 
cians dared  not  do  less.  Hutchinson  says :  "  The  act  Avhich  accompanied 
it,  with  the  title  of  '  Securing  the  Dependency  of  the  Colonies,"  caused 
no  alloy  of  the  joy,  and  was  considered  as  mere  naked  form." — Ed. 


130  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

in  the  free  exercise  of  them.  'T  is  in  this  view  of  it  that 
they  exult  as  those  who  are  "  glad  in  heart,"  esteeming 
themselves  happy  beyond  almost  any  people  now  living 
on  the  fiice  of  the  earth.  May  they  ever  be  this  happy 
people,  and  ever  have  "  God  for  their  Lord  " ! 

This  news  is  yet  further  welcome  to  us,  as  it  has  made 
way  for  the  return  of  our  love,  in  all  its  genuine  exercises, 
towards  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  who,  in 
common  with  ourselves,  profess  subjection  to  the  same 
most  gracious  sovereign.  The  affectionate  regard  of  the 
American  inhabitants  for  their  mother  country^  was  never 
exceeded  by  any  colonists  in  any  part  or  age  of  the  world. 
We  esteemed  ourselves  parts  of  one  whole,  members  of 
the  same  collective  body.  What  aifected  the  people 
of  England,  affected  us.  We  partook  of  their  joys  and 
sorrows — "rejoicing  when  they  rejoiced,  and  w^eeping 
when  they  wept."  Adverse  things  in  the  conduct  of 
Providence  towards  them  alarmed  our  fears  and  gave 
us  pain,  while  prosperous  events  dilated  our  hearts,  and 
in  proportion  to  their  number  and  greatness.  This  tender 
sympathy  with  our  brethren  at  home,  it  is  acknowledged, 
began  to  languish  from  the  commencement  of  a  late  par- 
liamentary act.  There  arose  hereupon  a  general  suspicion 
whether  they  esteemed  us  brethren  and  treated  us  with 
that  kindness  we  might  justly  expect  from  them.  This 
jealousy,  w^orking  in  our  breasts,  cooled  the  fervor  of  our 
love ;  and  had  that  act  been  continued  in  force,  it  might 
have  gradually  brought  on  an  alienation  of  heart  that 
would  have  been  greatly  detrimental  to  them,  as  it  would 
also  have  been  to  ourselves.  But  the  repeal,  of  which 
we  have  had  authentic  accounts,  has  opened  the  channels 


1  This  sentiment  was  ever  appealed  to  in  all  our  difficulties.    Burke  and 
Pitt  made  frequent  use  of  it.  —  Ed. 


ON   THE   REPEAL   OF   THE    STAMP   ACT.  131 

for  a  full  flow  of  our  former  affection  towards  our  brethren 
in  Great  Britain.  Unhappy  jealousies,  uncomfortable  sur- 
misings  and  heart-burnings,  are  now  removed  ;  and  we 
perceive  the  motion  of  an  affection  for  the  country  from 
whence  our  forefxthers  came,  which  would  influence  us  to 
the  most  vigorous  exertions,  as  we  might  be  called,  to 
promote  their  welfare,  looking  upon  it,  in  a  sense,  our 
own.  We  again  feel  with  them  and  for  them,  and  are 
happy  or  unhappy  as  they  are  either  in  prosperous  or 
adverse  circumstances.  We  can,  and  do,  with  all  sincerity, 
"  pray  for  the  peace  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  they  may 
prosper  that  love  her;"  adopting  those  words  of  the 
devout  Psalmist,  "Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and  pros- 
perity within  thy  palaces.  For  our  brethren's  sake  we  will 
say,  peace  be  within  thee." 

In  fine,  this  news  is  refreshing  to  us  "  as  cold  waters  to 
a  thirsty  soul,"  as  it  has  effected  an  alteration  in  the  state 
of  things  among  us  unspeakably  to  our  advantage.  There 
is  no  way  in  which  we  can  so  strikingly  be  made  sensible 
of  this  as  by  contrasting  the  state  we  were  lately  in,  and 
the  much  worse  one  we  should  soon  have  been  in  had  the 
Stamp  Act  been  enforced,  with  that  happy  one  we  are  put 
into  by  its  repeal. 

Upon  its  being  made  certain  to  the  colonies  that  the 
Stamp  Act  had  passed  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and 
received  the  king's  fiat,  a  general  spirit  of  uneasiness  at 
once  took  place,  which,  gradually  increasing,  soon  discov- 
ered itself,  by  the  wiser  sons  of  liberty,^  in  laudable  en- 


1  This  name,  "  Sons  of  Liberty,"  was  used  by  Colonel  Isaac  Barre, 
in  his  ofF-hand  reply  to  Charles  Townshend,  Wednesday,  February  6,  1765, 
when  George  Grenville  proposed  the  Stamp  Act  in  Parliament.  Jared 
IngersoU  heard  Colonel  Barre,  and  sent  a  sketch  of  his  remarks  to  Gover- 
nor Fitch,  of  Connecticut,  who  published  it  in  the  New  London  papers ; 
and,  says  Bancroft,  "  May  had  not  shed  its  blossoms  before  the  words  of 


132  A   THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

deavors  to  obtain  relief;  though  by  others,  in  murmurings 
and  complaints,  in  anger  and  clamor,  in  bitterness,  wrath, 
and  strife ;  and  by  some  evil-minded  persons,  taking  occa- 
sion herefor  from  the  general  ferment^  of  men's  minds,  in 
those  violent  outrages  upon  the  property  of  others,  which, 
by  being  represented  in  an  undue  light,  may  have  reflected 
dishonor  upon  a  country  which  has  an  abhorrence  of  such^ 
injurious  conduct.     The  colonies  were  never  before  in  a 

Barre  were  as  household  words  in  every  New  England  town.  Midsum- 
mer saw  it  distributed  through  Canada,  in  French;  and  the  continent 
rung  from  end  to  end  with  the  cheering  name  Sons  of  Liberty."  Mr. 
Ingersoll,  in  a  note  to  his  pamphlet  (New  Haven,  1706),  p.  16,  says:  "J 
believe  I  way  claim  the  honor  of  having  been  the  author  of  this  title  ( Sons  of 
Liberty),  however  little  personal  good  I  may  have  got  by  it,  having  been 
the  only  person,  by  Avhat  I  can  discover,  who  transmitted  Mr.  Barre's 
speech  to  America." 

Boston  voted  that  pictures  of  Colonel  Barre  and  General  Conway  "  be 
placed  in  Faneuil  Hall,  as  a  standing  monument  to  all  posterity  of  the 
virtue  and  justice  of  our  benefactors,  and  a  lasting  proof  of  our  grati- 
tude." But  the  pictures  are  not  there;  and  Mr.  Drake  (History  of  Boston, 
p.  705)  aptly  suggests  that  the  city  "  would  lose  none  of  its  honor  by  re- 
placing them."  The  town  of  Barre,  in  Massachusetts,  perpetuates  the 
memory  of  this  statesman,  and  of  the  public  indignation  toward  Hutchin- 
son, whose  name  it  had  borne  from  1774  to  1777.  Towns  in  Vermont, 
New  York,  and  Wilkesbarre  in  Pennsylvania,  also  bear  the  honored  name. 
—  Ed, 

1  In  August,  1765,  when  Lieut.  Governor  Hutchinson's  house,  Andrew 
Oliver's,  William  Storey's,  and  the  stamp-office  in  Kilby  Street,  were  ran- 
sacked or  demolished.  A  minute  account  of  places  and  names,  and  de- 
tails in  these  riots,  fill  several  interesting  pages  in  Drake's  History  of 
Boston,  chap.  Ixix.;  Bancroft's  United  States,  chap,  xvi.,  1765. 

President  Adams  said,  "  None  were  indicted  for  pulling  down  the 
stamp-office,  because  this  was  thought  an  honorable  and  glorious  action, 
not  a  riot."  And  in  1775  he  said :  "  I  will  take  upon  me  to  say,  there  is 
not  another  province  on  this  continent,  nor  in  his  Majesty's  dominions, 
where  the  people,  under  the  same  indignities,  would  not  have  gone  to 
greater  lengths." 

"  I  pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty,"  said  Burke. 

The  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  said :  "  I  consider  these  violences  as  the  natu- 
ral effects  of  such  measures  as  ours  on  the  minds  of  freemen."—  Ed. 


ON   THE   REPEAL    OF   THE    STAMP   ACT.  133 

state  of  such  discontent,  anxiety,  and  perplexing  solici- 
tude ;  some  despairing  of  a  redress,  some  hoping  for  it,  and 
all  fearing  what  would  be  the  event.  And,  had  it  been 
the  determination  of  the  King  and  Parliament  to  have  car- 
ried the  Stamp  Act  into  effect  by  ships  of  war  and  an 
embarkation  of  troops,  their  condition,  however  unhappy 
before,  would  have  been  inconceivably  more  so.  They 
must  either  have  submitted  to  what  they  thought  an  in- 
supportable burden,  and  have  parted  with  their  property 
without  any  will  of  their  own,  or  have  stood  upon  their 
defence  ;  in  either  of  which  cases  their  situation  must  have 
been  deplorably  sad.  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  from 
that  firmness  of  mind  and  resolution  of  spirit  which  ap- 
peared among  all  sorts  of  persons,  as  grounded  upon  this 
principle,  deeply  rooted  in  their  minds,  that  they  had  a 
constitutional  nght*  to  grant  their  own  moneys  and  to  be 
tried  by  their  peers,  't  is  more  than  probable  they  would 
not  have  submitted^  unless  they  had  been  obliged  to  it  by 


a  The  colonists  may  reasonably  be  excused  for  their  mistake  (if  it  was  one)  in 
thinking  that  they  were  vested  with  this  constitutional  right,  as  it  was  the 
opinion  of  Lord  Camden,  declared  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  of  Mr.  Pitt,  sig- 
nified in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  unco7istitutio7ial.  This 
is  said  upon  the  authority  of  the  public  prints. i 

1  Lord  Camden  said:  "The  British  Parliament  have  no  right  to  tax  the 

Americans Taxation  and  representation  are  coeval  with  and 

essential  to  this  constitution."  Mr.  Pitt  said:  "  The  Commons  of  Amer- 
ica, represented  in  their  several  assemblies,  have  ever  been  in  possession 
of  the  exercise  of  this,  their  constitutional  right,  of  gi^'ing  and  granting 
their  own  money.  They  would  have  been  slaves  if  they  had  not  enjoyed 
it."— Ed. 

2  An  examination  of  the  newspapers  and  legislative  proceedings  of  the 
period  admits  of  no  doubt  of  this.  From  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  till 
certain  news  of  its  repeal,  April,  17G6,  the  newspaper,  "  The  Boston  Post 
Boy,"  displayed  for  its  heading,  in  large  letters,  these  words :  "  The 
united  voice  of  all  His  Majesty's  free  and  loyal  subjects  in  America, — 
Liberty  and  Property,  and  no  Stamps." 

Dr.  Gordon  savs  the  Stamp  Act  was  treated  with  the  most  indignant 

12 


134  A   THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

superior  power.  Not  that  they  had  a  thought  in  their 
hearts,  as  may  have  been  represented,  of  being  an  inde- 
pendent people.^  They  esteemed  it  both  their  happiness 
and  their  glory  to  be,  in  common  with  the  inhabitants  of 


contempt,  by  being  printed  and  cried  about  the  streets  under  the  title  of 
The  folly  of  England  and  ruin  of  America. 

It  was  now— May,  1765  — that  Patrick  Henry,  in  bringing  forward  his 
resolutions  against  the  act,  exclaimed,  "  Casar  had  his  Brutus ;  Charles 
the  First  had  his  Cromwell;  and  George  the  Third  "—"Treason!  "  cried 
the  Speaker;  "  Treason !  "  cried  many  of  the  members  —  "  may  profit  by 
their  example,"  was  the  conclusion  of  the  sentence.  "If  this  be  trea- 
son," said  Henry,  "make  the  most  of  it!  " 

President  John  Adams,  referring  to  this  sermon  in  1815,  said :  "  It  has 
been  a  question,  whether,  if  the  ministry  had  persevered  in  support  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  sent  a  military  force  of  ships  and  troops  to  force  its  exe- 
cution, the  people  of  the  colonies  would  then  have  resisted.  Dr.  Chauncy 
and  Dr.  May  hew,  in  sermons  which  they  preached  and  printed  after  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  have  left  to  posterity  their  opinions  upon  this 
question.  If  my  more  extensive  familiarity  with  the  sentiments  and  feel- 
ings of  the  people  in  the  Eastern,  Western,  and  Southern  counties  of  Mas- 
sachusetts may  apologize  for  my  presumption,  I  subscribe  without  a  doubt 
to  the  opinions  of  Chauncy  and  Mayhew,  What  would  have  been  the 
consequence  of  resistance  in  arms?"  (See  note  to  page  136.)  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, before  the  House  of  Commons  in  1766,  said :  "  Suppose  a  military 
force  sent  into  America,  they  will  find  nobody  in  arms;  what  are  they 
then  to  do  ?  They  cannot  force  a  man  to  take  stamps  who  chooses  to  do 
without  them.  They  will  not  find  a  rebellion,  hut  they  can  make  one. " 
—  Ed. 

1  Not  one  of  the  English  colonies,  or  provinces,  would  now  submit  for  a 
moment  to  the  control  which  the  American  colonies  would  then  have  cheer- 
fully accepted.  The  royal  governors  are  accepted  as  pageants  on  which  to 
hang  the  local  governments,  which  are  essentially  independent,  but  enjoy 
a  nationality  by  this  nominal  connection  with  the  crown;  and  it  maybe 
doubted  if  any  of  them  have  that  degree  of  loj'^alty  which  once  animated 
the  "  rebellious  "  colonies  of  1776.  Happily  time  has  destroyed  the  ani- 
mosities engendered  by  a  vicious  policy,  and  there  is  now  that  nobler  unity 
(for  we  be  brethren)  which  is  cultivated  by  commerce  and  the  amenities  of 
literature  and  science.  In  this  view,  the  cordial  reception,  at  this  time,  of 
England's  royal  representative  in  our  chief  cities,  and  by  our  National 
Executive,  is  an  event  of  great  interest.    See  p.  143  and  note.  —  Ed. 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OP  THE  STAMP  ACT.       135 

England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  the  subjects  of  King 
George  the  Third,  whom  they  heartily  love  and  honor, 
and  in  defence  of  whose  person  and  crown  they  would 
cheerfully  expend  their  treasure,  and  lose  even  their  blood. 
But  it  was  a  sentiment  they  had  imbibed,  that  they  should 
be  wanting  neither  in  loyalty  to  their  king,  or  a  due  re- 
gard to  the  British  Parliament,  if  they  should  defend  those 
rights  which  they  imagined  were  inalienable,  upon  the  foot 
of  justice,  by  any  power  on  earth.**  And  had  they,  upon 
this  principle,  whether  ill  or  well  founded,  stood  upon 
their  defence,  what  must  have  been  the  effect?  There 
would  have  been  opened  on  this  American  continent  a 
most  doleful  scene  of  outrage,  violence,  desolation,  slaugh- 
ter, and,  in  a  word,  all  those  terrible  evils  that  may  be 
expected  as  the  attendants  on  a  state  of  civil  war.  No 
language  can  describe  the  distresses,  in  all  their  various 
kinds  and  degrees,  which  would  have  made  us  miserable. 
God  only  knows  how  long  they  might  have  continued, 
and  whether  they  would  have  ended  in  anything  short  of 
our  total  ruin.     Nor  would  the  mother  country,  whatever 


a  The  great  Mr.  Pitt  would  not  have  said,  in  a  certain  august  assembly,  speak- 
ing of  the  Americans,  "I  rejoice  that  they  have  resisted,"  if,  in  his  judgment, 
they  might  not,  in  consistency  with  their  duty  to  government,  have  made  a 
stand  against  the  Stamp  Act.  'T  is  certainly  true  there  may  be  such  exercise  of 
power,  and  in  instances  of  such  a  nature,  as  to  render  non-submission  warrant- 
able upon  the  foot  of  reason  and  righteousness;  otherwise  it  will  be  difficult,  if 
possible,  to  justify  the  Revolution,  and  that  establishment  in  consequence  of  it 
upon  which  his  present  Majesty  sits  upon  the  British  throne.  That  non-submis- 
sion would  have  been  justifiable,  had  it  been  determined  that  the  Stamp  Act 
should  be  enforced,  I  presume  not  to  say:  though  none,  I  believe,  who  are  the 
friends  of  liberty,  will  deny  that  it  would  have  been  justifiable  should  it  be  first 
supposed  that  this  act  essentially  broke  in  upon  our  constitutional  rights  as 
Englishmen.  Whether  it  did  or  not,  is  a  question  it  would  be  impertinent  in  me 
to  meddle  with.  It  is  the  truth  of  the  fact  that  the  colonists  generally  and  really 
tliought  it  did,  and  that  it  might  be  opposed  without  their  incurring  the  guilt  of 
disloyalty  or  rebellion ;  and  they  were  led  into  this  way  of  thinking  upon  what 
they  imagined  were  the  principles  which,  in  their  operation,  gave  King  William 
and  Queen  Mary,  of  blessed  memory,  the  crown  of  England.! 

1  See  Dr.  Mayhew's  Sermon  of  1750,  p.  39.  —  Ed. 


136  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

some  might  imagine,  have  been  untoucbed  with- what  was 
doing  in  the  colonies.  Those  millions  that  were  due  from 
this  continent  to  Great  Britain  could  not  have  been  paid ; 
a  stop,  a  total  stop,  would  have  been  put  to  the  importa- 
tion of  those  manufactures  which  are  the  support  of  thou- 
sands at  home,  often  repeated.  And  would  the  British 
merchants  and  manufacturers  have  sat  easy  in  such  a  state 
of  things?  There  would,  it  may  be,  have  been  as  much 
clamor,  wrath,  and  strife  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  nation 
as  in  these  distant  lands ;  nor  could  our  destruction  have 
been  unconnected  with  consequences  at  home  infinitely  to 
be  dreaded.^ 

But  the  longed-for  repeal  has  scattered  our  fears,  re- 
moved our  difficulties,  enlivened  our  hearts,  and  laid  the 
foundation  for  future  prosperity,  equal  to  the  adverse  state 
we  should  have  been  in  had  the  act  been  continued  and 
enforced. 

1  Dr.  Chauncy's  speculations  upon  the  probable  consequences  of  the 
enforcement  of  the  Stamp  Act,both  in  the  colonies  and  "  at  home,"  as  the 
colonists  affectionately  called  England,  the  mother  country,  are  singulai'ly 
coincident  with  Edmund  Burke's"  Observations" — published  three  years 
later,  1769  —  on  Grenville's  "  Present  State  of  the  Nation."  He  said :  "  We 
might,  I  think,  without  much  difRculty,  have  destroyed  our  colonies;  .  . 
.  .  but  four  millions  of  debt  due  to  our  merchants,  the  total  cessation  of 
a  trade  worth  four  millions  more,  a  large  foreign  traffic,  much  home  manu- 
facture, a  very  capital  immediate  revenue  arising  from  colony  imports, — 
indeed  the  produce  of  every  one  of  our  revenues  greatly  depending  on  this 
trade,  —  all  these  were  veiy  weighty,  accumulated  considerations ;  at  least 
well  to  be  weighed  before  that  sword  was  drawn  which,  even  by  its  victo- 
ries, must  produce  all  the  evil  eff'ects  of  the  greatest  national  defeat." 
Really  it  was  a  question  of  life  or  death,  not  only  to  the  colonics,  but  to  the 
commerce  of  England,  —  whose  dealings  with  European  nations  had  in- 
creased very  little  since  1700,  — which  had  risen  from  colony  intercourse; 
"  a  new  world  of  commerce,  in  a  manner  created,"  says  Burke,  "  grown  up 
to  this  magnitude  and  importance  within  the  memory  of  man;  nothing  in 
history  is  parallel  to  it."  The  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  a  commercial 
necessity;  to  enforce  it  would  have  been  like  killing  the  goose  that  laid 
the  golden  egg.— Ed. 


ON  THE  KEPEAL   OP  THE   STAMP   ACT.  137 

We  may  now  he  easy  in  our  minds  —  contented  with 
our  condition.  We  may  he  at  peace  and  quiet  among 
ourselves,  every  one  minding  his  own  business.  All 
ground  of  complaint  that  we  are  "  sold  for  bond-men  and 
bond-women"  is  removed  away,  and,  instead  of  being 
slaves  to  those  who  treat  us  with  rigor,  we  are  indulged 
the  full  exercise  of  those  liberties  which  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  as  the  richest  inheritance  from  our  forefathers. 
We  have  now  greater  reason  than  ever  to  love,  honor, 
and  obey  our  gracious  king,  and  pay  all  becoming  rever- 
ence and  respect  to  his  two  Houses  of  Parliament ;  and. 
may  with  entire  confidence  rely  on  their  wisdom,  lenity, 
kindness,  and  power  to  promote  our  welfare.  We  have 
now,  in  a  word,  nothing  to  "  make  us  afraid,"  but  may  "sit 
every  man  under  his  vine  and  under  his  fig-tree,"  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  the  many  good  things  we  are  favored 
with  in  the  providence  of  God. 

Upon  such  a  change  in  the  state  of  our  circumstan- 
ces, we  should  be  lost  to  all  sense  of  duty  and  gratitude, 
and  act  as  though  we  had  no  understanding,  if  our  hearts 
did  not  expand  with  joy.  And,  in  truth,  the  danger  is  lest 
we  should  exceed  in  the  expressions  of  it.  It  may  be  said 
of  these  colonies,  as  of  the  Jewish  people  upon  the  repeal 
of  the  decree  of  Ahasuerus,  which  devoted  them  to  destruc- 
tion, they  "  had  light  and  gladness,  joy  and  honor;  and 
in  every  province,  and  in  every  city,  whithersoever  the 
king's  commandment  and  his  decree  came,  they  had  joy 
and  gladness,  a  feast  day,  and  a  good  day ;  "  saying  within 
themselves,  "the  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us, 
whereof  we  are  glad."  May  the  remembrance  of  this 
memorable  repeal  be  preserved  and  handed  down  to  future 
generations,  in  every  province,  in  every  city,  and  in  every 
family,  so  as  never  to  be  forgotten. 

We  now  proceed — the  way  being  thus  prepared  for  it 
12* 


138  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

—  to  point  oat  the  proper  use  we  should  make  of  this 
"good  news  from  a  far  country,"  which  is  grateful  to  us 
"  as  cold  waters  to  a  thirsty  soul." 

We  have  already  had  our  rejoicings,  in  the  civil  sense, 
upon  the  "glad  tidings"  from  our  mother  country;  and 
'tis  to  our  honor  that  they  were  carried  on  so  universally 
within  the  bounds  of  a  decent,  warrantable  regularity. 
There  was  never,  among  us,  such  a  collection  of  all  sorts 
of  people  upon  any  public  occasion.  Nor  were  the  meth- 
ods in  which  they  signified  their  joy  ever  so  beautifully 
varied  and  multiplied ;  and  yet,  none  had  reason  to  com- 
plain of  disorderly  conduct.  The  show  was  seasonably 
ended,  and  we  had  afterwards  a  perfectly  quiet  night.^ 
There  has  indeed  been  no  public  disturbance  since  the 
outrage  at  Lieut.  Governor  Hutchinson's  house.  That 
was  so  detested  by  town  and  country,  and  such  a  spirit  at 
once  so  generally  stirred  up,  particularly  among  the  peo- 
ple, to  oppose  such  villanous  conduct,  as  has  preserved  us 
ever  since  in  a  state  of  as  great  freedom  from  mobbish 
actions  as  has  been  known  in  the  country.  Our  friends  at 
home,  it  should  seem,  have  entertained  fears  lest  upon  the 
lenity  and  condescension  of  the  King  and  Parliament  we 

1  The  repeal  was  celebrated  throughout  the  colonies  by  all  possible 
expressions  of  joy,  —  by  ringing  of  bells,  firing  of  guns,  processions,  bon- 
fires, illuminations,  thanksgivings.  Prisoners  for  debt  were  released;  Pitt, 
Camden,  and  Barre'  were  eulogized;  and  in  Boston  "Liberty  Tree  itself 

was  decorated  with  lanterns  till  its  boughs  could  hold  no  more 

Never  Avas  there  a  more  rapid  transition  of  a  people  from  gloom  to  joy." 

—  Bancroft.    The  Sons  of  Liberty  triumphed. 

"  It  has  at  once,"  said  Mayhew,  in  his  Thanksgiving  Sermon,  May  23, 
"  in  a  good  measure  restored  things  to  order,  and  composed  our  minds. 
Commerce  lifts  up  her  head,  adorned  with  golden  tresses,  pearls,  and 
precious  stones ;  almost  every  person  you  meet  wears  the  smile  of  con- 
tentment and  joy;  and  even  our  slaves  rejoice,  as  though  they  had 
received  their  manumission."  See  Drake's  History  of  Boston,  ch.  Ixxi., 
for  an  account  of  the  celebration  in  Boston.  —  Ed. 


ON   THE    REPEAL   OF   THE   STAMP   ACT.  139 

should  prove  ourselves  a  factious,  turbulent  people ;  and 
our  enemies  hope  we  shall.  But  't  is  not  easy  to  conceive 
on  what  the  fears  of  the  one  or  the  hopes  of  the  other 
should  be  grounded,  unless  they  have  received  injurious 
representations  of  the  spirit  that  lately  prevailed  in  this  as 
well  as  the  other  colonies,  which  was  not  a  spirit  to  raise 
needless  disturbances,  or  to  commit  outrages  upon  the 
persons  or  property  of  any,  though  some  of  those  sons  of 
wickedness  which  are  to  be  found  in  all  places  "^  might  take 
occasion,  from  the  stand  that  was  made  for  liberty,  to  com- 
mit violence  w4th  a  high  hand.  There  has  not  been,  since 
the  repeal,  the  appearance  of  a  spirit  tending  to  public 
disorder,  nor  is  there  any  danger  such  a  spirit  should  be 
encouraged  or  discovered,  unless  the  jDeople  should  be 
needlessly  and  unreasonably  irritated  by  those  who,  to 
serve  themselves,  might  be  willing  we  should  gratify  such 
as  are  our  enemies,  and  make  those  so  w^ho  have  been  our 
good  friends.     But,  to  leave  this  digression : 


a  It  has  been  said,  and  in  the  public  prints,  that  there  have  been  mobbish,  riot- 
ous doings  in  Loudon,  and  other  parts  of  England,  at  one  time  and  another,  and 
that  great  men  at  such  times —  men  far  superior  to  any  among  us  in  dignity  and 
power  —  suffered  in  their  persons  by  insulting,  threatening  words  and  actions, 
and  in  their  property  by  the  injurious  violence  that  destroyed  their  substance. 
Would  it  be  just  to  characterize  London,  much  more  England  itself,  from  the 
conduct  of  these  disturbers  of  its  peace?  It  would  as  reasonably,  as  certainly, 
be  esteemed  a  vile  reproach,  siiould  they  on  this  account  be  represented  as,  in 
general,  a  turbulent,  seditious  people,  disposed  to  throw  off  their  subjection 
to  government,  and  bring  things  into  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion.  If  this 
has  been  the  representation  that  has  been  made  of  the  colonists,  on  account  of 
what  any  may  have  suffered  in  their  persons  or  effects  by  the  ungoverned,  dis- 
orderly behavior  of  some  mobbishly  disposed  persons,  it  is  really  nothing  better 
than  a  base  slander,  and  no  more  applicable  to  them  than  to  the  people  of  Eng- 
land. The  colonists  in  general,  the  inhabitants  of  this  province  in  particular, 
are  as  great  enemies  to  all  irregular,  turbulent  proceedings,  and  as  good  friends 
to  government,  and  as  peaceable,  loyal  subjects,  as  any  that  call  King  George  the 
Third  their  riglitful  and  lawful  sovereign. 1 

1  The  sacking  of  Lord  Mansfield's  house,  the  destruction  of  his  library 
and  manuscripts  in  1780,  and  of  Dr.  Priestley's  mansion,  books,  manu- 
scripts, and  philosophical  apparatus,  in  1791,  greatly  exceeded  the  outrages 
in  Boston.  —  Ed. 


140  A   THANKSGIVING  SERMON 

Though  our  civil  joy  lias  been  expressed  in  a  decent, 
orderly  way,  it  would  be  but  a  poor,  pitiful  thing  should 
we  rest  here,  and  not  make  our  religious,  grateful  acknowl- 
edgments to  the  Supreme  Ruler ^  of  the  world,  to  whose 
superintending  providence  it  is  principally  to  be  ascribed 
that  we  have  had  "  given  us  so  great  deliverance."  What- 
ever were  the  means  or  instruments  in  order  to  this,  that 
glorious  Being,  whose  throne  is  in  the  heavens,  and  whose 
kingdom  ruleth  over  all,  had  the  chief  hand  herein.     He 

1  If  there  be  in  our  early  historical  literature  any  one  feature  more 
strongly  marked  than  the  rest,  it  is  this  universal  recognition  of  God  in 
all  our  affairs ;  and  Washington  was  not  more  true  to  himself  than  to  the 
spirit  of  his  country,  which,  of  all  men,  he  best  understood,  when,  in  his 
inaugural  address  as  President  of  the  United  States,  April  30,  1789,  he 
said: 

"  It  would  be  peculiarly  improper  to  omit,  in  this  first  official  act,  my 
fervent  supplications  to  that  Almighty  Being  who  rules  over  the  universe, 
who  presides  in  the  councils  of  nations,  and  whose  providential  aids 
can  supply  every  human  defect,  that  his  benediction  may  consecrate  to 
the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  govern- 
ment instituted  by  themselves  for  these  essential  purposes,  and  may 
enable  every  instrument  employed  in  its  administration  to  execute  with 
success  the  functions  allotted  to  his  charge.  In  tendering  this  homage 
,  to  the  Great  Author  of  every  public  and  private  good,  I  assure  myself 
that  it  expresses  your  sentiments  not  less  than  my  own,  nor  those  of  my 
fellow-citizens  at  large  less  than  either.  No  people  can  be  bound  to 
acknowledge  and  adore  the  Invisible  Hand  which  conducts  the  afl'airs  of 
man  more  than  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Every  step  by  which 
they  have  been  advanced  to  the  character  of  an  independent  nation  seems 
to  have  been  distinguished  by  some  token  of  providential  agency;  and  in 
the  important  revolution  just  accomplished  in  the  system  of  their  united 
government,  the  tranquil  deliberations  and  voluntary  consent  of  so  many 
distinct  communities,  from  which  the  event  has  resulted,  cannot  be  com- 
pared with  the  means  by  which  most  governments  have  been  established, 
without  some  return  of  pious  gratitude,  along  with  a  humble  anticipation 
of  the  blessings  which  the  past  seems  to  presage.  These  reflections, 
arising  out  of  the  present  crisis,  have  forced  themselves  too  strongly  on 
my  mind  to  be  suppressed.  You  will  join  with  me,  I  trust,  in  thinking 
that  there  are  none  under  the  influence  of  which  the  proceedings  of  a 
new  and  free  government  can  more  auspiciously  commence." — Ed. 


ON   THE    REPEAL    OF   THE    STAMP    ACT.  141 

sat  at  the  helm,  and  so  governed  all  things  relative  to  it 
as  to  bring  it  to  this  happy  issue.  It  was  under  his  all- 
wise,  overruling  influence  that  a  spirit  was  raised  in  all  the 
colonies  nobly  to  assert  their  freedom  as  men  and  English- 
born  subjects  —  a  spirit  which,  in  the  course  of  its  operation, 
was  highly  serviceable,  not  by  any  irregularities  it  might 
be  the  occasion  of  (in  this  imperfect  state  they  will,  more 
or  less,  mix  themselves  with  everything  great  and  good), 
but  by  its  manly  efforts,  setting  forth  the  reasons  they 
had  for  complaint  in  a  fair,  just,  and  strongly  convincing 
light,  hereby  awakening  the  attention  of  Great  Britain, 
opening  the  eyes  of  the  merchants  and  manufacturers 
there,  and  engaging  them,  for  their  own  interest  as  well 
as  that  of  America,  to  exert  themselves  in  all  reasonable 
ways  to  help  us.  It  was  under  the  same  all-governing 
influence  that  the  late  ministry,  full  of  projections^  tending 
to  the  hurt  of  these  colonies,  was  so  seasonably  changed 
into  the  present  patriotic  one,^  which  is  happily  disposed, 
in  all  the  methods  of  wisdom,  to  promote  our  welfere.  It 
was  under  the  same  influence  still  that  so  many  friends 
of  eminent  character  were  raised  up  and  spirited  to  ai3pear 
advocates  on  our  behalf,  and  plead  our  cause  with  irresist- 
ible force.  It  was  under  this  same  influence,  also,  that 
the  heart  of  our  king  and  the  British  Parliament  were 
so  turned  in  favor  to  us  as  to  reverse  that  decree  which, 
had  it  been  established,  would  have  thrown  this  whole 
continent,  if  not  the  nation  itself,  into  a  state  of  the 
utmost  confusion.     In  short,  it  was  ultimately  owing  to 

1  Ecclesiastical  and  civil.  —  Ed. 

2  "  The  Rockiiijrham  Administration  "  (July  10,  1765— July  30,  1766), 
in  October,  had  had  "  letters  from  all  parts  of  America  that  a  confla;ira- 
tion  blazed  out  at  once  in  Xorth  America — a  universal  disobedience  and 
open  resistance  to  the  Stamp  Act;"  and  because  it  "raised  a  flame  in 
America,"  says  Burke,  "  for  reasons  political,  not  commercial,"  it  was 
repealed.    Thus  the  Grenville  policy  was  abandoned  for  the  time.  —  Ed. 


142  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON 

this  influence  of  the  God  of  Heaven  that  the  thoughts,  the 
views,  the  purposes,  the  speeches,  the  writings,  and  the 
•whole  conduct  of  all  who  were  engaged  in  this  great 
affair  were  so  overruled  to  bring  into  effect  the  desired 
happy  event.^ 

And  shall  we  not  make  all  due  acknowledgments  to 
the  great  Sovereign  of  the  world  on  this  joyful  occasion? 
Let  us,  my  brethren,  take  care  that  our  hearts  be  suitably 
touched  with  a  sense  of  the  bonds  we  are  under  to  the 
Lord  of  the  universe ;  and  let  us  express  the  joy  and  grat- 
itude of  our  hearts  by  greatly  praising  him  for  the  great- 
ness of  his  goodness  in  thus  scattering  our  fears,  removing 
away  our  burdens,  and  continuing  us  in  the  enjoyment  of 
our  most  highly  valued  liberties  and  privileges.  And  let 
us  not  only  praise  liim  with  our  lips,  rendering  thanks  to 
his  holy  name,  but  let  us  honor  him  by  a  well-ordered 
conversation.  "  Behold,  to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice  ;  " 
and  "  to  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our  heart,  and 
mind,  and  strength,  and  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves," 


1 "  I  remember,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Burke,  in  1774,  "  with  a  melancholy 
pleasure,  the  situation  of  the  honorable  gentleman"  —  General  Conway  — 
"who  made  the  motion  for  the  repeal;  in  that  crisis,  when  the  whole 
trading  interest  of  this  empire,  crammed  into  your  lobbies,  with  a  trem- 
bling and  anxious  expectation,  waited  almost  to  a  winter's  return  of 
light  their  fate  from  your  resolution.  When,  at  length,  you  had  deter- 
mined in  their  favor,  and  your  doors,  thrown  open,  showed  them  the 
figure  of  their  deliverer  in  the  well-earned  triumphs  of  his  important 
victory,  from  the  whole  of  that  grave  multitude  there  arose  an  involuntary 
burst  of  gratitude  and  transport.  They  jumped  upon  him,  like  children 
on  a  long-absent  father.    They  clung  about  him,  as  captives  about  their 

redeemer.    All  England,  all  America  joined  to  his  applause 

I  stood  near  him ;  and  his  face  —  to  use  the  expression  of  the  Scriptures 
of  the  first  martyr  —  *  his  face  was  as  if  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel.' 
I  do  not  know  how  others  feel;  but  if  I  had  stood  in  that  situation,  I 
never  would  have  exchanged  it  for  all  that  kings,  in  their  profusion, 
could  bestow." —  Ed. 


ON   THE   REPEAL   OF   THE   STAMP   ACT.  143 

is  better  than  whole  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices."  Ac- 
tions speak  much  louder  than  words.  In  vain  shall  we 
pretend  that  we  are  joyful  in  God,  or  thankful  to  hira,  if  it 
is  not  our  endeavor,  as  we  have  been  taught  by  the  grace 
of  God,  which  has  appeared  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  to 
"  deny  all  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  so- 
berly, righteously,  and  godly  in  the  world;"  doing  all 
things  whatsoever  it  has  pleased  God  to  command  us. 

And  as  he  has  particularly  enjoined  it  on  us  to  be 
"subject  to  the  higher  powers,  ordained  by  him  to  be  his 
ministers  for  good,"  we  cannot,  upon  this  occasion,  more 
properly  express  our  gratitude  to  him  than  by  approving 
ourselves  dutiful  and  loyal  to  the  gi*acious  king  whom  he  has 
placed  over  us.  Not  that  we  can  be  justly  taxed  Avith  the 
want  of  love  or  subjection  to  the  British  throne.  We  may 
have  been  abused  by  false  and  injurious  representations 
upon  this  head  ;  but  King  George  the  Third  has  no  sub- 
jects—  not  within  the  realm  of  England  itself — that  are 
more  strongly  attached  to  his  person  and  family,  that  bear 
a  more  sincere  and  ardent  affection  towards  him,  or  that 
would  exert  themselves  with  more  life  and  spirit  in  de- 
fence of  his  crown  and  dignity.  But  it  may,  notwithstand- 
ing, at  this  time,^  be  seasonable  to  stir  up  your  minds  by 


1  In  his  examination  before  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1766,  Dr.  Frank- 
lin ansAvered  to  the  question,  "What  was  the  temper  of  America  towards 
Great  Britain  before  the  year  1763  ?  " —  "  The  best  in  the  world.  They  sub- 
mitted willinjrly  to  the  government  of  the  crown,  and  paid,  in  all  their 
courts,  obedience  to  acts  of  Parliament.  Numerous  as  the  people  are  in 
the  several  old  provinces,  they  cost  you  nothing  in  forts,  citadels,  garri- 
sons, or  armies,  to  keep  them  in  subjection.  They  were  governed  by  this 
country  at  the  expense  of  only  a  little  pen,  ink,  and  paper.  They  were 
led  by  a  thread.  They  had  not  only  a  respect,  but  an  affection  for  Great 
Britain,  —  for  its  laws,  its  customs,  and  manners,  —  and  even  a  fondness 
for  its  fashions,  that  gi-eatly  increased  the  commerce.  Natives  of  Britain 
were  always  treated  with  particular  re^jard;  to  be  an  Old  England  Mian. 


144  A   THANKSGIVING    SERMON 

putting  you  in  remembrance  of  your  duty  to  "  pray  for 
kings,  and  all  that  are  in  subordinate  authority  under 
them,"  and  to  "  honor  and  obey  them  in  the  Lord."  And 
if  we  should  take  occasion,  from  the  great  lenity  and  con- 
descending goodness  of  those  who  are  supreme  in  author- 
ity over  us,  not  to  "  despise  government,"  not  to  "  speak 
evil  of  dignities,"  not  to  go  into  any  method  of  unseemly, 
disorderly  conduct,  but  to  "  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives 
in  all  godliness  and  honesty,"  —  every  man  moving  in  his 
own  proper  sphere,  and  taking  due  care  to  "render  unto 
Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  to  God  the  things 
that  are  God's,"  —  we  should  honor  ourselves,  answer  the 
expectations  of  those  who  have  dealt  thus  favorably  with 
us,  and,  what  is  more,  we  should  express  a  becoming  regard 
to  the  governing  pleasure  of  Almighty  God. 

It  would  also  be  a  suitable  return  of  gratitude  to  God 
if  we  entertained  in  our  minds,  and  were  ready  to  express 
in  all  proper  ways,  a  just  sense  of  the  obligations  we  are 
under  to  those  patrons  of  liberty  and  righteousness  who 
were  the  instruments  employed  by  him,  and  whose  wise 
and  powerful  endeavors,  under  his  blessing,  were  effectual 
to  promote  at  once  the  interest  of  the  nation  at  home,  and 
of  these  distant  colonies.  Their  names  will,  I  hope,  be  ever 
dear  to  us,  and  handed  down  as  such  to  the  latest  poster- 
ity.    That  illustrious  name  in  special,  Pitt,^  will,  I  trust, 

was  of  itself  a  character  of  some  respect,  and  gave  a  kind  of  rank 
among  us." 

Q.  "And  what  is  their  temper  now?  " 
A.  "  O,  very  much  altered."  —  See  note  1,  p.  134.  —  Ed. 
1  No  name  was  more  venerated  in  America  than  that  of  William.  Pitt.  He 
was  born  in  London,  in  1708,  grandson  of  Thomas  Pitt,  Governor  of  Ma- 
dras, and  made  his  first  speech  in  Parliament  in  173G.  In  December,  1756, 
when  "  our  armies  were  beaten,  our  navy  inactive,  our  trade  exposed  to 
the  enemy,  our  credit  —  as  if  we  expected  to  become  bankrupts  —  sunk  to 
the  lowest  pitch,  so  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  found  but  despondency  at 


ON   THE   REPEAL   OF   THE    STAMP   ACT.  145 

be  never  mentioned  but  with  honor,  as  the  saviour,  under 
God,  and  the  two  kings  who  made  him  their  prime  minis- 
ter, both  of  the  nation  and  these  colonies,  not  only  from 
the  power  of  France,  but  from  that  which  is  much  worse, 
a  state  of  slavery,  under  the  appellation  of  Englishmen. 
May  his  memory  be  blessed  !  May  his  great  services  for 
his  king,  the  nation,  and  these  colonies,  be  had  in  everlast- 
ing remembrance ! 


home  and  contempt  abroad  "  (Address  of  City  of  London),  the  great  "Whig 
statesman  graciously  accepted  the  seals  of  government,  and  his  adminis- 
tration was  the  most  glorious  period  of  English  history  since  the  days 
of  the  Commonwealth  and  of  the  Revolution  of  1688.  America  rejoiced, 
and  her  blood  and  her  treasure  flowed  freely.  She  saw  the  French  navy 
annihilated,  and  the  British  flag  wave  at  Louisburg,  Niagara,  Ticon- 
deroga,  Crown  Point,  Quebec,  and  all  Canada.  "  Mr.  Pitt  left  the  thirteen 
British  colonies  in  North  America  in  perfect  security  and  happiness,  every 
inhabitant  there  glowing  with  the  warmest  affection  to  the  parent  country. 
At  home  all  was  animation  and  industry.  Riches  and  glory  flowed  in 
from  everj'  quarter."  —  Almon.  George  11.  died,  in  extreme  age,  October 
25,  1700;  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  George  IIL,  with  not  a  drop  of  Eng- 
lish blood  in  his  veins ;  a  very  Stnart  in  principle.  He  was  a  youth  of 
twenty-two  years,  and  the  cro's^ii  was  placed  on  his  head  by  the  primate 
Seeker,  who  aspired  to  be  his  counsellor  as  well  as  his  spiritual  director. 
Seeker  was  the  very  one  who  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  Mayhew  in  the 
controversy  about  the  society  for  propagating  the  hierarchy  "  in  foreign 
parts;"  "and,"  said  the  pious  Dean  Swift,  "whoever  has  a  true  value 
for  church  and  state,  should  avoid  "  Whigism.  Pitt  resigned  the  seals  of 
Secretary  of  State  on  the  5th  of  October,  1761.  He  opposed  \vith  his 
might  the  proceedings  against  America.  The  peculiarly  impressive  cir- 
cumstances of  his  death.  May  Uth,  1778,  hastened,  if  not  caused,  by  his 
zeal  and  energj-  in  our  behalf,  are  familiar  to  all  by  the  celebrated  picture 
of  the  "  Death  of  Chatham,"  —  the  piece  which  established  the  fame  of 
the  eminent  Bostonian,  Copley,  whose  son.  Lord  Lyndhurst,  yet  lives, 
one  of  the  most  venerable  and  eloquent  members  of  the  House  of  Peers. 
Pittsburg  in  Pennsylvania,  Pittsfield  in  Massachusetts,  and  many  other 
towns,  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  national  gratitude,  which  was  ex- 
pressed by  legislative  addresses,  by  monuments,  and  by  every  mode  of 
public  and  private  regard.  He  died  poor  —  "  stained  by  no  vice,  sullied  by 
no  meanness."  —  Ed. 

13 


146  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON. 

To  conclude :  Let  us  be  ambitious  to  make  it  evident, 
by  the  manner  of  our  conduct,  that  we  are  good  subjects 
and  good  Christians.  So  shall  we  in  the  best  way  express 
the  grateful  sense  we  have  of  our  obligations  to  that  glo- 
rious Being,  to  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  whose  presi- 
dency over  all  human  affairs  it  is  principally  owing  that 
the  great  object  of  our  fear  and  anxious  concern  has  been 
so  happily  removed.  And  may  it  ever  be  our  care  to 
behave  towards  him  so  as  that  he  may  appear  on  our  be- 
half in  every  time  of  danger  and  difficulty,  guard  us 
against  evil,  and  continue  to  us  all  our  enjoyments,  both 
civil  and  religious.  And  may  they  be  transmitted  from  us 
to  our  children,  and  to  children's  children,  as  long  as  the 
sun  and  the  moon  shall  endure.     Amen. 


A 

SERMON 

Preached    at    Cambridge, 

IN     THE 

Audience    of   his    HONOR 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON,  Esq.; 

Lieutenant-Governor  and  Commander  in  Chief; 

The     Honorable 
His   Majesty's   COUNCIL, 

AND     THE    honorable 

HOUSE   OF    REPRESENTATIVES, 

Of   the    Province    of   the 

Maffachufetts-Bay  in  New-England, 
May    30th,     1770. 

Being    the    Anniversary    for    the    Election    of    His 
Majesty's   Council   for  the   said   Province. 

By  SAMUEL  COOKE,  A.  M. 

Paftor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Cambridge. 


BOSTON: 

Printed    by    EDES    and    GILL,    Printers    to    the 
honorable  house  of  REPRESENTATIVES. 


MDCCLXX. 


In  the  House  of  Representatives,  May  30, 1770. 

Resolved,  That  Mr.  Gardner  of  Cambridge,  Mr.  Remington,  and  Mr.  Gardner 
of  Stow,  be  a  Committee  to  return  the  thanks  of  this  House  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Samuel  Cooke  for  his  Sermon  preached  yesterday  before  the  General  Court, 
being  the  day  of  the  election  of  Councillors ;  and  to  desire  of  him  a  copy  thereof 
for  the  press. 

Attest, 

SAMUEL  ADAMS,  Clerk. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

GLANCE  AT  THE  CUERENT  OF  EVENTS  FROM  THE  DATE  OF  DR. 
CHAUNCY'S  SERMON  TO  THAT  OF  MR.  COOKE,  1770. 


The  happiness  of  America,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  was  as 
transient  as  the  existence  of  the  ministry  which  effected  it;  and  the  out- 
burst of  joy,  of  which  Dr.  Chauncy's  sermon  was  but  a  single  note,  by 
the  contrast,  presents  in  deeper  gloom  the  succeeding  woe.  Excessive 
jealousy  of  ministerial  control  —  a  desire  of  personal  "  influence"  — was 
a  source  of  misery  to  George  III.,  and  of  calamity  to  the  nation.  He  set- 
tled questions  of  state  on  personal,  not  on  national  grounds.  Thus,  in 
the  midst  of  the  American  war,  he  declared  respecting  Mr.  Pitt,  whose 
administration  had  been  the  glory  of  the  reign  of  his  grandfather,  George 
II.,  "No  advantage  to  my  country,  nor  personal  danger  to  myself,  can  make 
me  address  myself  to  Lord  Chatham,  or  to  any  other  branch  of  opposi- 
tion. Honestly,  I  would  rather  lose  the  crown  I  now  wear  than  bear  the 
ignominy  of  possessing  it  under  their  shackles."  His  letters  to  Lord 
North  show  that  the  Avar  was  his  war;  and  he  said  to  Mr.  Adams,  on  his 
presentation  as  first  minister  plenipotentiaiy  from  the  United  States,  "  I 
have  done  nothing  in  the  late  contest  but  what  J  thought  myself  bound 
to  do." 

He  never  could  forget  his  mother's  early  precept:  "  George,  be  king!  " 
and  so  capricious  was  he,  that  "  the  question  at  last  was,"  said  Burke, 
"  not  who  could  do  the  public  business  best,  but  who  would  undertake  to 
do  it  at  all."  During  the  first  nine  years  of  his  reign  there  were  six  succes- 
sive administrations.  The  Rockingham  Administration,  which  repealed 
the  Stamp  Act,  March  18th,  1766,  lasted  only  one  year  and  twenty  days. 
When  Chatham,  the  great  friend  of  America,  consented  to  form  a  new 
ministry,  he  had  to  frame  it  of  such  discordant  matei'ials,  that  during  his 
absence,  by  reason  of  ill  health,  "  as  if  it  were  to  insult  him,"  says  Mr. 
Knight,  "  as  well  as  to  betray  him,  and  even  long  before  the  close  of  the 

13* 


150 


first  session  of  his  administration,  when  everj-thing  was  publicly  trans- 
acted, and  with  great  parade,  in  his  name,  they  made  an  act  declaring  it 
highly  just  and  expedient  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America."  "  He  made  an 
administration  so  checkered  and  speckled;  he  put  together  a  piece  of 
joinery  so  crossly  indented  and  whimsically  dovetailed;  a  cabinet  so  vari- 
ously inlaid;  such  a  piece  of  diversified  mosaic;  such  a  tessellated  pave- 
ment without  cement,  —here  a  bit  of  black  stone,  and  there  a  bit  of  white; 
patriots  and  courtiers,  king's  friends  and  republicans,  Whigs  and  Tories, 
treacherous  friends  and  open  enemies,  —  that  it  was  indeed  a  very  curious 
show,  but  utterly  unsafe  to  touch,  and  unsure  to  stand  on.  .  .  .  When 
his  face  was  hid  but  for  a  moment,  his  whole  system  was  on  a  wide  sea, 
without  chart  or  compass."  i 

The  Act  of  June  29th,  1767,  imposing  duties  to  be  paid  by  the  colonists 
on  paper,  glass,  painters'  colors,  and  teas,  and  authorizing  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  indefinite  number  of  irresponsible  officers,  with  unlimited 
salaries,  to  be  paid  by  the  colonies,  again  put  America  in  an  uproar. 
During  the  period  to  INIarch,  1770,  every  proceeding  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, in  Council  or  in  Parliament,  served  only  to  exasperate  the  Amer- 
icans, and  to  strengthen  them  in  a  common  bond  of  resistance.  On  the 
11th  of  February,  1768,  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts 
issued  a  circular  letter  to  the  speakers  of  the  legislative  assemblies  of  the 
other  colonies,  in  which  they  expressed  "  a  disposition  freely  to  commu- 
nicate their  mind  to  sister  colonies,  upon  a  common  concern,  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  would  be  glad  to  receive  the  sentiments  of  any  other 
House  of  Assembly  on  the  continent."  They  say  in  the  letter  that  "  the 
House  have  humbly  represented  to  the  ministry  their  own  sentiments ; 
.  .  .  that  it  is  an  essential,  unalterable  right  in  nature,  engrafted  into 
the  British  constitution  as  a  fundamental  law,  and  ever  held  sacred  and 
irrevocable  by  the  subjects  within  the  realm,  that  what  a  man  has  hon- 
estly acquired  is  absolutely  his  own,  which  he  may  freely  give,  but  cannot 
be  taken  from  him  without  his  consent;  that  the  American  subjects  may, 
therefore,  exclusive  of  any  consideration  of  charter  rights,  with  a  decent 
firmness  adapted  to  the  character  of  free  men  and  subjects,  assert  this 
natural  and  constitutional  right.  It  is,  moreover,  their  humble  opinion, 
which  they  express  with  the  greatest  deference  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Par- 
liament, that  the  acts  made  there,  imposing  duties  on  the  people  of  this 
province  with  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  are 
infringements  of  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights;  because,  as  they 

1  Burke. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  151 

are  not  represented  in  the  British  Parliament,  his  Majesty's  Commons  in 
Britain,  by  those  acts,  grant  their  property  without  their  consent.    .    .    . 

"  They  have  also  submitted  to  consideration,  whether  any  people  can  be 
said  to  enjoy  any  degree  of  freedom,  if  the  crown,  in  addition  to  its  un- 
doubted authority  of  constituting  a  governor,  should  appoint  him  such  a 
stipend  as  it  may  judge  proper,  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  and  at 
their  expense;  and  whether,  while  the  judges  of  the  land,  and  other  civil 
oflScers,  hold  not  their  commissions  during  good  behavior,  their  having 
salaries  appointed  for  them  by  the  crown,  independent  of  the  people, 
hath  not  a  tendency  to  subvert  the  principles  of  equity,  and  endanger  the 
happiness  and  security  of  the  subject. 

"  They  take  notice  of  the  hardships  of  the  act  for  preventing  mutiny 
and  desertion,"  —  passed  at  the  same  session  with  the  repealed  Stamp  Act, 
— "  which  requires  the  Governor  and  Council  to  provide  for  the  king's 
marching  troops,  and  the  people  to  pay  the  expenses;  and  also  the  com- 
mission of  the  gentlemen  appointed  commissioners  of  the  customs,  to 
reside  in  America,  which  authorizes  them  to  make  as  many  appointments 
as  they  think  fit,  and  to  pay  the  appointees  what  sum  they  please,  for 
whose  mal-conduct  they  are  not  accountable;  from  whence  it  may  hap- 
pen that  officers  of  the  crown  may  be  multiplied  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
become  dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  the  people."  i 

Lord  Hillsborough  thought  this  circular  "  unfair,"  and,  on  the  22d  of 
April,  wrote  to  Governor  Bernard  "  to  require  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  his  Majesty's  name  to  rescind  .  .  .  that  rash  and  hasty 
proceeding."  In  June,  Governor  Bernard  delivered  this  message,  and  the 
House  absolutely  declined  the  proposal ;  for  "  we  should  stand  self-con- 
demned as  unworthy  the  name  of  British  subjects,  descended  from  British 
ancestors,  intimately  allied  and  connected  in  interest  and  inclination  with 
our  fellow-subjects,  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain.  .  .  .  We  take  it 
to  be  the  native,  inherent,  and  indefeasible  right  of  the  subject,  jointly  or 
severally,  to  petition  the  king  for  the  redress  of  grievances;  .  .  .  and 
if  the  votes  of  the  House  are  to  be  controlled  by  the  direction  of  a  minis- 
ter, we  have  left  us  but  a  vain  resemblance  of  liberty.    We  have  now  only 


1  Mr.  Knight,  "  Popular  History  of  England,"  vol.  vi.  310,  quotes  an  author- 
ity, that  "In  1758  America  had  been  called  'the  hospital  of  England;'  the 
places  in  the  gift  of  the  crown  being  filled  '  with  broken  members  of  rarliameut, 
of  bad,  if  any,  principles;  valets  de  chambre,  electioneering  scoundrels,  and 
even  livery  servants.' " 


152 


to  inform  you  that  this  House  has  voted  not  to  rescind,  and  that  on  a 
division  on  the  question  there  were  ninety-two  nays  and  seventeen  yeas ;  " 
and  we  shall  petition  the  king  to  remove  Mr.  Beniard  from  the  govern- 
ment of  this  province.  The  governor  dissolved  the  Legislature  the  next 
day,  according  to  the  royal  instructions.  Several  other  colonial  assem- 
blies were  dissolved  for  the  same  reason. 

Four  thousand  British  troops  were  sent  to  Boston  this  year  —  1768  —  to 
aid  in  the  collection  of  the  duties ;  but  the  custom-house  ofl&cers  fled  to  the 
castle  for  safety,  and  the  collector's  boat  was  dragged  through  the  town 
and  burnt  on  the  common.  Now  were  breathed  into  life  resolves,  peti- 
tions, protests,  state-papers,  political  treatises,  that,  for  vigor  of  thought 
and  strength  and  elegance  of  expression,  for  profound  inquiry  into 
governmental  principles  and  learning,  accurate  and  cogent  reasoning, 
and  the  noblest  love  of  liberty,  must  forever  remain  unsurpassed,  and 
which  drove  the  British  government  to  the  last,  if  not  the  only  argument 
of  despotism  —  force.  These  —  among  the  richest  legacies  ever  left  by 
"  Sons  of  Liberty"  to  their  children  —  demonstrate  the  intensity  of  the 
stmggle,  their  high  and  holy  principles,  the  fervor  of  soul,  the  indomitable 
will,  with  which,  consecrated  by  an  unceasing  recognition  of  God  over 
all,  the  great  stake.  Liberty,  was  won.  It  is  only  by  a  diligent  and 
sympathizing  study  of  these  writings,  and  of  the  hneage  and  lives  of 
their  great  authors,  that  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution  can  be  understood. 

As  the  Legislature  was  dissolved,  a  "  convention  "  was  held,  at  Boston, 
September  22d,  where  the  public  will  expressed  itself,  without  the  legal 
forms  of  authority,  but  decisively.  Non-importation  agreements  were 
entered  into,  and  a  commercial  policy  of  "  masterly  inactivity"  prevailed, 
very  annoying  to  the  "  friends  of  government,"  and  not  comforting  to 
the  "swarms"  of  hungry  vampires  of  the  customs.  This  "insolence" 
disturbed  Parliament,  and  Governor  Bernard  was  directed  to  transmit 
to  England  the  names  of  the  principal  offenders,  who  were  to  be  dragged 
thither  for  trial. 

On  election-day.  May  31,  1769,  the  House  sent  a  message  to  the  gov- 
ernor, "that  an  armament  by  sea  and  land,  investing  this  metropolis, 
and  a  military  guard,  with  cannon  pointed  at  the  very  door  of  the  State 
House,"—  yet  standing  at  the  head  of  State  Street,  — "  where  this 
Assembly  is  held,  is  inconsistent  with  that  dignity,  as  well  as  that 
freedom,  with  which  we  have  a  right  to  deliberate,  consult,  and  deter- 
mine," and  "  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  your  Excellency  will,  as  his 
Majesty's  representative,  give  the  necessary  and  effectual  orders  for  the 


editor's  prefatory  note.  153 

removal  of  the  iibove-mentioned  forces  by  sea  and  land  out  of  this  port 
and  the  gates  of  this  city,  during  the  session  of  said  Assembly."  The 
governor's  answer  Avas:  "I  have  no  authority  over  his  Majesty's  ships 
in  this  port,  or  his  troops  in  this  town;  nor  can  I  give  any  orders  for 
the  removal  of  the  same." 

On  the  15th  of  July,  in  answer  to  two  petulant  messages  from  Governor 
Bernard,  whether  they  would  provide,  according  to  act  of  Parliament, 
for  the  king's  troops,  the  House  "  evinced  to  the  whole  world  and  to 
all  posterity"  their  idea  "of  the  indefatigable  pains  of  his  Excellency, 
and  a  few  interested  persons,  to  procure  and  keep  up  a  standing  force 
here,  by  sea  and  land,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace,  under  the  mere 
pretence  of  the  necessity  of  such  a  force  to  aid  the  civil  authority.  .  .  . 
The  whole  continent  has,  for  some  years  past,  been  distressed  with 
what  are  called  acts  for  imposing  taxes  on  the  colonists,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  raising  a  revenue;  and  that  without  their  consent,  in  person 

or  by  representative In  strictness,  all  those  acts  may  be  rather 

called  acts  for  raising  a  tribute  in  America,  for  the  further  purposes  of 
dissipation  among  placemen  and  pensioners.  .  .  .  But  of  all  the  new 
regulations,  the  Stamp  Act  not  excepted,  this  under  consideration  is 
the  most  excessively  unreasonable.  For,  in  effect,  the  yet  free  repre- 
sentatives of  the  free  assemblies  of  North  America  are  called  upon 
to  repay,  of  their  own  and  then*  constituents'  money,  such  sum  or  sums 
as  persons,  over  whom  they  can  have  no  check  or  control,  may  be 
pleased  to  expend!  .  .  .  therefore,  ,  ,  .  .  we  shall  never  make 
provision  for  the  purposes  in  your  several  messages  above  mentioned."  ' 

Governor  Bernard  was  rewarded,  March  20th,  by  a  royal  bauble,  —  a 
baronetcy,  —  and,  having  prorogued  the  General  Court,  July  15th,  to 
January  10th,  at  Boston,  he  sailed,  August  1st,  for  England,  leaving  the 
government  in  the  hands  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson,  who  was 
no  less  obsequious  to  the  crown,  and  faithless  and  ungrateful  to  his  native 
land. 

The  unanimity  of  the  colonies  gained  strength;  for  the  cause  of  one  was 
the  cause  of  all.  On  the  fifth  of  March,  1770,  there  was  a  collision  of  the 
soldiers  and  citizens,  —  "  the  horrid  massacre," —  the  anniversary  of  which 
was  made  very  serviceable  to  the  patriot  cause.  Hutchinson,  alarmed  by 
the  intense  public  excitement,  convened  the  Council  ;i  at  the  same  time 

1  The  elder  Adams,  in  his  account  of  this  scene,  has  left  to  us  a  picture  of  the 
Council  Chamber,  which  remained  as  it  was  when  Otis  there  argued  against  the 


154  editor's  prefatory  note. 

the  people  thronged  to  Faneuil  Hall,  and,  through  a  committee,  declared 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  that  "  nothing  can  rationally  be  expected 
to  restore  the  peace  of  the  town,  and  prevent  blood  and  carnage,  but  the 
immediate  removal  of  the  troops."  Governor  Hutchinson  said :  "  Nothing 
shall  ever  induce  me  to  order  the  troops  out  of  town;"  but  Mr.  Secretary 
Oliver  whispered:  "You  must  either  comply  or  determine  to  leave  the 
province."  This  would  have  been  an  end  to  "  his  Honor's"  advancement. 
The  troops  were  removed  to  the  castle. 

In  compliance  with  the  mandate  of  the  minister.  Governor  Hutchinson 
further  prorogued  the  General  Court,  to  meet  at  Cambridge,  March  15th, 
instead  of  at  its  ancient  seat  at  Boston.  They  remonstrated,  and  Hutch- 
inson answered :  "  I  must  consider  myself,  as  a  servant  of  the  king,  to  be 
governed  "— solely —  "  by  what  appears  to  be  his  Majesty's  pleasure." 
Many  messages  and  speeches  were  exchanged;  and  on  May  30th  the 
House,  before  electing  the  Council,  entered  on  its  journal  a  protest  against 
its  session  at  Cambridge  being  drawn  into  precedent. 

Boston,  in  the  instructions  to  her  representatives  in  this  court,  de- 
nounces the  doctrines  of  the  ministry  as  "  political  solecisms,  which  may 
take  root  and  spring  up  under  the  meridian  of  modei-n  Rome;  but  we 
trust  in  God  they  will  not  flourish  in  the  soil  and  climate  of  British 

America We,  therefore,  enjoin  j'ou,  at  all  hazards,  to 

deport  yourselves  (as  we  rely  your  own  hearts  will  stimulate)  like  the 
faithful  representatives  of  a  free-born,  awakened,  and  determined  people, 
who,  being  impregnated  with  the  spirit  of  liberty  in  conception,  and 
nurtured  in  principles  of  freedom  from  their  infancy,  are  resolved  to 
breathe  the  same  celestial  ether  till  summoned  to  resign  the  heavenly 
flame  by  that  omnipotent  God  who  gave  it." 


writs  of  assistance:  "The  same  glorious  portraits  of  King  Charles  the  Second 
and  King  James  the  Second,  to  which  might  be  added  little,  miserable  likenesses 
of  Governor  "Winthrop,  Governor  Bradstreet,  Governor  Endecott,  and  Gover- 
nor Belcher,  hung  up  in  obscure  corners  of  the  room."  The  latter  are  now  in 
the  Senate  Chamber.  "Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson,  Commander-in-chief 
in  the  absence  of  the  governor,  is  at  the  head  of  the  council  table.  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Dalrymple,  Commander-in-chief  of  his  Majesty's  military  forces,  taking 
rank  of  all  his  Majesty's  counsellors,  must  be  seated  by  the  side  of  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  province.  Eight  and  twenty  counsel- 
lors must  be  painted,  all  seated  at  the  council  board.  Let  me  see!  —  what  cos- 
tume? What  was  the  fashion  of  that  day?  Large  white  wigs,  English  scarlet 
cloth  cloaks;  some  of  them  with  gold-laced  hats,  not  on  their  heads  indeed,  iu 
60  august  a  presence,  but  on  a  table  before  them."  —  See  pp.  113-14. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  155 

Such  were  some  of  the  leading  events  after  Dr.  Chauncy's  sermon  in 
1766,  and  such  the  condition  and  spirit  of  the  times  when  Dr.  Cook 
preached  the  "  Election  Sermon"  of  1770,  —  a  discourse  that  must  have 
"  come  home  to  men's  business  and  bosoms." 

The  preacher,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1735,  then 
in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age,  was  "  a  man  of  science,  of  a  social 
disposition,  distinguished  by  his  good  sense  and  prudence,  and  a  faithful 
servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  i  He  died  June  4,  1783,  aged  74. 

The  spirit  and  formula  of  legislative  action  on  "  election-day,"  in  the 
revolutionary  period,  appear  in  the  following  contemporary  account : 

"Boston,  May  31,  1770.  "Wednesday  being  the  Anniversary  of  the 
Day  appointed  by  the  Royal  Charter  for  the  Election  of  Councillors  for 
this  Province,  the  Great  and  General  Court  or  Assembly  met  at  Harvard 
College,  in  Cambridge,  at  Nine  o'clock  in  the  Morning;  when  the  usual 
Oaths  were  administered  to  the  Gentlemen,  who  were  returned  to  sen'^e  as 
Members  of  the  Honorable  House  of  Representatives,  who  also  subscribed 
to  the  Declaration:  —  The  House  then  made  Choice  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Adams  for  their  Clerk  ;  after  which  they  chose  the  Hon.  Thomas 
CusHiNG,  Esq.,  their  Speaker. 

"  About  Ten  o'clock  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  being  escorted 
by  the  Ti-oop  of  Guards  from  his  Seat  at  Milton,  arrived  at  Harvard 
College,  and  being  in  the  Chair,  a  Committee  of  the  House  presented  the 
Speaker  elect  to  His  Honor,  who  afterwards  sent  a  Message  in  Writing, 
agreeable  to  the  Royal  Explanatory  Charter,  that  he  approved  of  their 
Choice.  The  House  then  chose  a  Committee  to  remonstrate  to  His  Honor 
the  Calling  of  the  Assembly  at  that  Place. 

"  At  Eleven  o'clock  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  accompanied  by 
the  Honorable  His  Majesty's  Council,  the  Honorable  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, and  a  Number  of  other  Gentlemen,  preceded  by  the  first  Company 
in  Cambridge  of  the  Regiment  of  Militia,  commanded  by  the  Honorable 
Brigadier  Brattle,  went  in  Procession  to  the  Meeting-House,  where  a 
Sermon  suitable  to  the  Occasion  was  preached  by  the  Rev'd  Mr.  Samuel 
Cooke,  of  Cambridge,  from  these  words :  2  Sam.  xxiii.  3,  4.  The  God 
of  Israel  said,  the  Bock  of  Israel  spake  to  me,  He  that  ruleth  over  man  must 
be  just,  ruling  in  the  fear  of  God,  etc.  After  Divine  Service  the  Procession 
returned  to  Harvard-Hall,  where  an  Entertainment  was  provided. 

"  Previous  to  the  choice  of  Councillors,  —  in  the  afternoon,  —  Letters 

1  Allen. 


156  editor's  prefatory  note. 

were  read  from  the  Hon,  Bexjamin  Lincoln,  Esq.;  the  Hon.  John 
Hill,  Esq.;  the  Hon.  Gamaliel  Bradford,  Esq.;  resigning  their  Seats 
at  the  Council  Board,  on  account  of  their  Age  and  Bodily  Indisposition. 

"The  following  gentlemen  were  elected  Councillors  for  the  ensuing 
year,  viz.  : 

For  the  late  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bat. 
The  Honorable 
Samuel  Danforth,  Esq.;  James  Pitts,  Esq.; 

Isaac  Royall,  Esq.;  Samuel  Dexter,  Esq.; 

John  Erving,  Esq.;  t  Joseph  Gerrish,  Esq.; 

t  William  Brattle,  Esq.;  t  Thomas  Sanders,  Esq.; 

t  James  Bowdoin,  Esq.;  t  John  Hancock,  Esq.; 

Thomas  Hubbard,  Esq.;  t  Artemas  Ward,  Esq.; 

Harrison  Gray,  Esq.;  t  Benja.  Greenleaf,  Esq.; 

James  Russell,  Esq.;  t  Joshua  Henshaw,  Esq.; 

Royall  Tyler,  Esq. ;  t  Stephen  Hall,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Colony  of  Plymouth. 
t  James  Otis,  Esq.;  t  Jerathmeel  Bowers,  Esq.; 

WiLLiA3i  Sever,  Esq.;  t  Walter  Spooner,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Province  of  Maine. 

Nathaniel  Sparhaw^k,  Esq.;  Jeremiah  Powell,  Esq.; 

John  Bradbury,  Esq. 

For  Sagadahock. 

t  James  Go  wen,  Esq. 

At  Large. 

t  James  Humphrey,  Esq. ;  t  George  Leonard,  Jr.,  Esq. 

[Those  marked  t  were  not  of  the  Council  last  year.] 

"  The  list  of  Councillors  chosen  Yesterday  being  this  day,  agreeable  to 
the  Direction  of  the  Royal  Charter,  presented  to  the  Lieutenant  Governor, 
His  Honor  was  pleased  to  consent  to  the  Election  of  the  Gentlemen 
before-mentioned,  except  the  Hon.  John  Hancock,  Esq.,  and  Jerath- 
meel Bowers,  Esq.  Joseph  Gerrish,  Esq.,  declined  going  to  the 
Board." —  The  Massachusetts  Gazette,  Monday,  June  4,  1770. 


DISCOURSE  III. 

AX  ELECTION  SERMON. 


HE  THAT  RtTLETH  OVER  MEN  MUST  BE  jrST,  EULnfG  TS  THE  FEAR  OF  GOD. 
ASD  HE  SHALL  BE  AS  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  MORXIXG  WHEN  THE  SO"  RISETH, 
EVEN  A  MORXIXG  WITHOUT  CLOUDS:  AS  THE  TEXDER  GRASS  SPRI>GI>G 
OUT  OP  THE  EARTH  BY  CLEAR  SHINLSG  AFTER  RAIX.  — 2  Sam.  XXiJJ.  3,  4. 


The  solemn  introduction  to  the  words  now  read,  re- 
spectable hearers,  is  manifestly  designed  to  engage  your 
attention  and  regard,  as  given  by  inspiration  from  God, 
and  as  containing  the  last,  the  dying  words  of  one  of  the 
greatest  and  best  of  earthly  rulers,  who,  by  ruling  in  the 
fear  of  God,  had  served  his  generation  according  to  the 
divine  will.  Transporting  reflection !  when  his  flesh  and 
his  heart  fliiled,  and  his  glory  was  consigned  to  dust. 

From  this  and  many  other  passages  in  the  sacred  ora- 
cles, it  is  evident  that  the  Supreme  Ruler,  though  he  has 
directed  to  no  particular  mode  of  civil  government,  yet 
allows  and  approves  of  the  establishment  of  it  among 
men. 

The  ends  of  civil  government,  in  divine  revelation,  are 
clearly  pointed  out,  the  character  of  rulers  described,  and 
the  duty  of  subjects  asserted  and  explained;  and  in  this 
view  civil  government  may  be  considered  as  an  ordinance 
of  God,  and,  when  justly  exercised,  greatly  subservient  to 
the  glorious  purposes  of  divine  providence  and  grace : 
but  the  particular  form  is  left  to  the  choice  and  determi- 
nation of  mankind. 

14 


158  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

In  a  pure  state  of  nature,  government  is  in  a  great 
measure  unnecessary.  Private  property  in  that  state  is 
inconsiderable.  Men  need  no  arbiter  to  determine  their 
rights ;  they  covet  only  a  bare  support ;  their  stock  is  but 
the  subsistence  of  a  day;  the  uncultivated  deserts  are  their 
habitations,  and  they  carry  their  all  with  them  in  their 
frequent  removes.  They  are  each  one  a  law  to  himself, 
which,  in  general,  is  of  force  sufficient  for  their  security  in 
that  course  of  life. 

It  is  far  otherwise  when  mankind  are  formed  into  col- 
lective bodies,  or  a  social  state  of  life.  Here,  their  fre- 
quent mutual  intercourse,  in  a  degree,  necessarily  leads 
them  to  different  apprehensions  respecting  their  several 
rights,  even  where  their  intentions  are  upright.  Tempta- 
tions to  injustice  and  violence  increase,  and  the  occasions 
of  them  multiply  in  proportion  to  the  increase  and  opu- 
lence of  the  society.  The  laws  of  nature,  though  enforced 
by  divine  revelation,  which  bind  the  conscience  of  the 
upright,  prove  insufficient  to  restrain  the  sons  of  violence, 
who  have  not  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes. 

A  society  cannot  long  subsist  in  such  a  state;  their 
safety,  their  social  being,  depends  upon  the  establishment 
of  determinate  rules  or  laws,  with  proper  penalties  to  en- 
force them,  to  which  individuals  shall  be  subjected.  The 
laws,  however  wisely  adapted,  cannot  operate  to  the  public 
security  unless  they  are  properly  executed.  The  execu- 
tion of  them  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, leaves  individuals  to  determine  their  own  rights, 
and,  in  effect,  in  the  same  circumstances  as  in  a  state  of 
nature.  The  remedy  in  this  case  is  solely  in  the  hands  of 
the  community. 

A  society  emerging  from  a  state  of  nature,  in  respect  to 
authority,  are  all  upon  a  level;  no  individual  can  justly 
challenge  a  right  to  make  or  execute  the  laws  by  which  it 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  159 

is  to  be  governed,  but  only  by  the  choice  or  general  con- 
sent of  the  community.  The  people,  the  collective  body 
only,  have  a  right,  under  God,  to  determine  who  shall  ex- 
ercise this  trust  for  the  common  interest,  and  to  fix  the 
bounds  of  their  authority;  and,  consequently,  unless  we 
admit  the  most  evident  inconsistence,  those  in  authority, 
in  the  whole  of  their  public  conduct,  are  accountable  to 
the  society  which  gave  them  their  political  existence. 
This  is  evidently  the  natural  origin  and  state  of  all  civil 
government,  the  sole  end  and  design  of  which  is,  not  to 
ennoble  a  few  and  enslave  the  multitude,  but  the  public 
benefit,  the  good  of  the  people ;  that  they  may  be  protected 
in  their  persons,  and  secured  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  their 
rights,  and  be  enabled  to  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives  in 
all  godliness  and  honesty.  While  this  manifest  design  of 
civil  government,  under  whatever  form,  is  kept  in  full 
view,  the  reciprocal  obligations  of  rulers  and  subjects  are 
obvious,  and  the  extent  of  prerogative  and  liberty  will  be 
indisputable. 

In  a  civil  state,  that  form  is  most  eligible  which  is  best 
adapted  to  promote  the  ends  of  government  —  the  benefit 
of  the  community.  Reason  and  experience  teach  that  a 
mixed  government  is  most  conducive  to  this  end.  In  the 
present  imperfect  state,  the  whole  power  cannot  with 
safety  be  entrusted  with  a  single  person ;  nor  with  many, 
acting  jointly  in  the  same  public  capacity.  Various 
branches  of  power,  concentring  in  the  community  from 
which  they  originally  derive  their  authority,  are  a  mutual 
check  to  each  other  in  their  several  departments,  and 
jointly  secure  the  common  interest.  This  may  indeed,  in 
some  instances,  retard  the  operations  of  government,  but 
will  add  dignity  to  its  deliberate  counsels  and  weight  to 
its  dictates. 

This,    after   many   dangerous    conflicts    with    arbitrary 


160  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

power,  is  now  the  happy  constitution  of  our  parent  state. 
"We  rejoice  in  the  gladness  of  our  nation.  May  no  weapon 
formed  against  it  prosper;  may  it  be  preserved  inviolate 
till  time  shall  be  no  more.  This,  under  God,  has  caused 
Great  Britain  to  exalt  her  head  above  the  nations,  restored 
the  dignity  of  royal  authority,  and  rendered  our  kings 
truly  benefactors.  The  prince  upon  the  British  throne 
can  have  no  real  interest  distinct  from  his  subjects;  his 
crown  is  his  inheritance,  his  kingdom  his  patrimony,  which 
he  must  be  disposed  to  improve  for  his  own  and  his  fam- 
ily's interest ;  his  highest  glory  is  to  rule  over  a  free  peo- 
ple and  reign  in  the  hearts  of  his  subjects.  The  Peers, 
who  are  lords  of  Parliament,  are  his  hereditary  council. 
The  Commons,  elected  by  the  people,  are  considered  as 
the  grand  inquest  of  the  kingdom,  and,  while  incorrupt, 
are  a  check  upon  the  highest  offices  in  the  state.  A  con- 
stitution thus  happily  formed  and  supported,  as  a  late 
writer  has  observed,  cannot  easily  be  subverted  but  by  the 
prevalence  of  venality  in  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
How  far  septennial  parliaments  ^  conduce  to  this,  time  may 
further  show ;  or  whether  this  is  not  an  infraction  upon 
the  national  constitution,  is  not  for  me  to  determine.  But 
the  best  constitution,  separately  considered,  is  only  as  a 


1  The  Septennial  Bill  of  George  I.,  extending  the  duration  of  Par- 
liaments to  seven  years,  was  passed  to  defeat  the  intrigues  of  the  Popish 
faction,  Avhosc  "  conspiracy  against  the  House  of  Hanover  continued,"  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  says,  "  till  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  George  II.,  . 
....  and  whose  hostiUty  to  the  Protestant  succession  was  not  extin- 
guished till  the  appearance  of  their  leaders  at  the  court  of  George  III. 
proclaimed  to  the  world  their  hope  that  Jacobite  principles  might  re- 
ascend  the  throne  of  England  with  a  monarch  of  the  House  of  Bruns- 
wick." It  was  the  effrontery  of  their  propaganda  in  New  England  that 
roused  Dr.  Mayhew  in  1750.  See  his  Sermon  on  the  "  Martyrdom  "  of 
Charles  I.,  p.  102.  — En. 


OF   CIVIL    GOVERNMENT.  161 

line  which  marks  out  the  enclosure,  or  as  a  fitly  organized 
body  without  spirit  or  animal  life.^ 

The  advantages  of  civil  government,  even  under  the 
British  form,  greatly  depend  upon  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  those  to  whom  the  administration  is  committed. 
When  the  righteous  are  in  authority,  the  people  rejoice; 
but  when  the  wicked  beareth  rule,  the  people  mourn.  The 
Most  High,  therefore,  who  is  just  in  all  his  ways,  good  to 
all,  and  whose  commands  strike  dread,  has  strictly  enjoined 
faithfulness  upon  all  those  who  are  advanced  to  any  place 
of  public  trust.  Rulers  of  this  character  coo2:>erate  with 
God  in  his  gracious  dispensations  of  providence,  and  under 
him  are  diffusive  blessings  to  the  people,  and  are  com- 
pared to  the  light  of  morning,  when  the  sun  riseth,  even  a 
morning  without  clouds. 

By  the  ruler  in  the  text  is  intended  not  only  the  king  as 
supreme,  but  also  every  one  in  subordinate  place  of  power 
and  trust,  whether  they  act  in  legislative  or  executive 
capacity,  or  both.  In  whatever  station  men  act  for  the 
public,  they  are  included  in  this  general  term,  and  must 
direct  their  conduct  by  the  same  upright  principle.  Jus- 
tice, as  here  expressed,  is  not  to  be  taken  in  a  limited 
sense,  but  as  a  general  term,  including  every  quality  neces- 
sary to  be  exercised  for  the  public  good  by  those  who 

1  Pope's  explanation  of  his  two  celebrated  lines,  — 

"  For  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest : 
Whatever  is  best  administered  is  best,"  — 

was,  "  that  no  form  of  government,  however  excellent  in  itself,  can  be 
sufficient  to  make  a  people  happy  unless  it  be  administered  with  inteijrity. 
On  the  contrary,  the  best  sort  of  government,  when  the  form  of  it  is  pre- 
served and  the  administration  corrupt,  is  most  dangerous."  When  the 
political  institutions  of  our  fathers  cease  to  be  animated  by  their  spirit 
and  virtues,  the  forms  only  will  remain,  monuments  of  their  wisdom,  and 
not  less  of  our  folly. —  Ed. 

14* 


102  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

accept  the  charge  of  it.  Justice  must  be  tempered  with 
wisdom,  prudence,  and  clemency,  otherwise  it  will  degen- 
erate into  rigor  and  oppression. 

This  solemn  charge  given  to  rulers  is  not  an  arbitrary 
injunction  imposed  by  God,  but  is  founded  in  the  most 
obvious  laws  of  nature  and  reason.  Rulers  are  appointed 
for  this  very  end  —  to  be  ministers  of  God  for  good.  The 
people  have  a  right  to  exj^ect  this  from  them,  and  to  require 
it,  not  as  an  act  of  grace,  but  as  their  unquestionable  due. 
It  is  the  express  or  implicit  condition  upon  which  they  were 
chosen  and  continued  in  public  office,  that  they  attend 
continually  upon  this  very  thing.  Their  time,  their  abil- 
ities, their  authority  —  by  their  acceptance  of  the  public 
trust  —  are  consecrated  to  the  community,  and  cannot,  in 
justice,  be  withheld ;  they  are  obliged  to  seek  the  welfare 
of  the  people,  and  exert  all  their  powers  to  promote  the 
common  interest.  This  continual  solicitude  for  the  com- 
mon good,  however  depressing  it  may  appear,  is  what 
rulers  of  every  degree  have  taken  upon  themselves ;  and, 
in  justice  to  the  people,  in  faithfulness  to  God,  they  must 
either  sustain  it  with  fidelity,  or  resign  their  office. 

The  first  attention  of  the  faithful  ruler  Avill  be  to  the  sub- 
jects of  government  in  their  specific  nature.  He  will  not 
forget  that  he  ruleth  over  men,  —  men  Avho  are  of  the 
same  species  with  himself,  and  by  nature  equal,  —  men 
who  are  the  oflTspring  of  God,  and  alike  formed  after  his 
glorious  image,  —  men  of  like  passions  and  feelings  with 
himself,  and,  as  men,  in  the  sight  of  their  common  Creator 
of  equal  importance,  —  men  who  have  raised  him  to  power, 
and  support  him  in  the  exercise  of  it,  —  men  who  are 
reasonable  beings,  and  can  be  subjected  to  no  human 
restrictions  which  are  not  founded  in  reason,  and  of  the 
fitness  of  which  they  may  be  convinced,  —  men  who  are 
moral  agents,  and  under  the  absolute  control  of  the  High 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  1G3 

Possessor  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  cannot,  witliout  tlie 
greatest  impropriety  and  disloyalty  to  the  King  of  kings, 
yield  unlimited  subjection^  to  any  inferior  power,  —  men 
whom  the  Son  of  God  hath  condescended  to  ransom,  and 
dignified  their  nature  by  becoming  the  son  of  man,  —  men 
who  have  the  most  evident  right,  in  every  decent  way,  to 
represent  to  rulers  their  grievances,  and  seek  redress.  The 
people  forfeit  the  rank  they  hold  in  God's  creation  when 
they  silently  yield  this  important  point,  and  sordidly,  like 
Issachar,  crouch  under  every  burden  wantonly  laid  upon 
them.  And  rulers  greatly  tarnish  their  dignity  when  they 
attempt  to  treat  their  subjects  otherwise  than  as  their 
fellow-men,  —  men  ^  who  have  reposed  the  highest  confi- 
dence in  their  fidelity,  and  to  whom  they  are  accountable 
for  their  public  conduct,  —  and,  in  a  word,  men  among 
whom  they  must,  without  distinction,  stand  before  the 
dread  tribunal  of  Heaven.  Just  rulers,  therefore,  in  making 
and  executing  the  laws  of  society,  will  consider  who  they 
are  to  oblige,  and  accommodate  them  to  the  state  and  con- 
dition of  men. 

Fidelity  to  the  public  requires  that  the  laws  be  as  plain 
and  explicit  as  possible,  that  the  less  knowing  may  under- 
stand, and  not  be  ensnared  by  them,  while  the  artful  evade 
their  force.  Mysteries  of  law  and  government  may  be 
made  a  cloak  of  unrighteousness.  The  benefits  of  the 
constitution  and  of  the  laws  must  extend  to  every  branch 
and  each  individual  in  society,  of  whatever  degree,  that 


1  "  Three  millions  of  people,  so  dead  to  all  the  feelings  of  liberty  as 
voluntarily  to  submit  to  be  slaves,  would  have  been  fit  instruments  to 
make  slaves  of  the  rest  "of  the  nation.  — Pitt.  "We  have  counted  the 
cost  of  this  contest,  and  find  nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary  slavery." — 
Dec.  of  Congress,  July  6,  1775.  —  Ed. 

2  Perhaps  the  preacher  here  caught  the  eye  of  a  Hutchinson  or  an 
Oliver.  —  Ed. 


164  THE  TRUE  PRINCIPLES 

every  man  may  enjoy  his  property,  and  pursue  his  honest 
course  of  life  with  security.  The  just  ruler,  sensible  he  is 
in  trust  for  the  public,  with  an  impartial  hand  will  supply 
the  various  offices  in  society ;  his  eye  will  be  upon  the 
faithful ;  merit  only  in  the  candidate  will  attract  his  atten- 
tion. He  will  not,  without  sufficient  reason,  multiply 
lucrative  offices  in  the  community,  which  naturally  tends 
to  introduce  idleness  and  oppression.  Justice  requires 
that  the  emoluments  of  every  office,  constituted  for  the 
common  interest,  be  proportioned  to  their  dignity  and  the 
service  performed  for  the  public ;  parsimony,  in  this  case, 
enervates  the  force  of  government,  and  frustrates  the  most 
patriotic  measures.  A  people,  therefore,  for  their  own 
security,  must  be  supposed  willing  to  pay  tribute  to  whom 
it  is  due,  and  freely  support  the  dignity  of  those  under 
whose  protection  they  confide.^  On  the  other  hand,  the 
people  may  apprehend  that  they  have  just  reason  to  com- 
plain of  oppression  and  wrong,  and  to  be  jealous  of  their 
liberties,  when  subordinate  public  offices  are  made  the 
surest  step  to  wealth  and  ease.^  This  not  only  increases 
the  expenses  of  government,  but  is  naturally  productive 
of  dissipation  and  luxury,  of  the  severest  animosities  among 
candidates  for  public  posts,  and  of  venality  and  corruption 
—  the  most  fatal  to  a  free  state. 


1  The  preacher  alludes  to  the  standing  controversy  with  the  crown  ahout 
fixed  salaries  to  the  crown  appointees,  which  the  colony  persistently  re- 
fused, but  voted  such  sums  from  year  to  year  as  seemed  expedient,  thus 
holding  the  officers  to  a  certain  dependence  on  the  people.  Beside,  if 
they  were  freemen,  their  property  was  their  own,  and  not  the  king's ;  and 
they  quoted  John  Hampden's  case.  "  If  the  votes  of  the  House  are  to  be 
controlled  by  the  direction  of  a  minister,  we  have  left  us  but  a  faint  sem- 
blance of  liberty." —  Ed. 

2  The  reference  is  to  the  custom  house  and  revenue  officers,  whose  nunq^ 
bers  and  whose  salaries  were  limited  only  by  the  "  commissioners,"  who 
were  as  irresponsible  to  the  people  as  is  a  slave-trader  to  his  victim.  —Ed. 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  165 

Rulers  are  appointed  guardians  of  the  constitution  in 
their  respective  stations,  and  must  confine  themselves 
within  the  limits  by  which  their  authority  is  circumscribed. 
A  free  state  will  no  longer  continue  so  than  while  the  con- 
stitution is  maintained  entire  in  all  its  branches  and  con- 
nections. If  the  several  members  of -the  legislative  power 
become  entirely  independent  of  each  other,  it  produceth  a 
schism  in  the  body  politic;  and  the  effect  is  the  same  when 
the  executive  is  in  no  degree  under  the  control  of  the 
legislative  power,^ — the  balance  is  destroyed,  and  the  exe- 
cution of  the  laws  left  to  arbitrary  will.  The  several 
branches  of  civil  power,  as  joint  pillars,  each  bearing  its 
due  proportion,  are  the  support,  and  the  only  proper  sup- 
port, of  a  political  structure  regularly  formed.  A  consti- 
tution which  cannot  support  its  own  weight  must  fall ;  it 
must  be  supposed  essentially  defective  in  its  form  or  admin- 
istration. 

Military  aid^  has  ever  been  deemed  dangerous  to  a  free 
civil  state,  and  often  has  been  used  as  an  effectual  engine 
to  subvert  it.  Those  who,  in  the  camp  and  in  the  field  of 
battle,  are  our  glory  and  defence,  from  the  experience  of 
other  nations,  will  be  thought,  in  time  of  peace,  a  very 
improper  safeguard  to  a  constitution  which  has  liberty, 
British  liberty,  for  its  basis.  "When  a  people  are  in  sub- 
jection to  those  who  are  detached  from  their  fellow-citi- 
zens, under  distinct  laws  and  rules,  supported  in  idleness 
and  luxury,  armed  with  the  terrors  of  death,  under  the 
most  absolute  command,  ready  and  obliged  to  execute  the 


1  The  royal  governors  declared  themselves  absolutely  hound  by  their 
ministerial  instructions.  —  Ed. 

2  The  partisans  of  despotism  —  Bernard,  Hutchinson,  Oliver,  and  others 
0-  had  induced  the  crown  to  send  troops,  foreign  troops,  to  enforce  foreign 

laws,  to  dragoon  the  "  subjects  "  into  obedience,  in  violation  of  the  charter 
and  of  the  English  constitution.  — Ed. 


166  THE   TRUE  PRINCIPLES 


most  daring  orders  —  what  must,  what  has  been  the  con- 


sequence ? 


Inter  arm  a  silent  leges. 


Justice  also  requires  of  rulers,  in  their  legislative  ca- 
pacity, that  they  attend  to  the  operation  of  their  own  acts, 
and  repeal^  whatever  laws,  upon  an  impartial  review,  they 
find  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  God,  the  rights  of 
men,  and  the  general  benefit  of  society.  This  the  commu- 
nity hath  a  right  to  expect.  And  they  must  have  mis- 
taken apprehensions  of  true  dignity  who  imagine  they  can 
acquire  or  support  it  by  persisting  in  wrong  measures,  and 
thereby  counteracting  the  sole  end  of  government.  It 
belongs  to  the  all-seeing  God  alone  absolutely  to  be  of  one 
mind.  It  is  the  glory  of  man,  in  whatever  station,  to  per- 
ceive and  correct  his  mistakes.  Arrogant  pretences  to 
infallibility,  in  matters  of  state  or  religion,  represent  human 
nature  in  the  most  contemptible  light.  We  have  a  view 
of  our  nature  in  its  most  abject  state  when  we  read  the 
senseless  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  or  hear  the  im- 
potent thunders  of  the  Vatican.  Stability  in  promoting 
the  public  good,  which  justice  demands,  leads  to  a  change 
of  measures  when  the  interest  of  the  community  requires 
it,  which  must  often  be  the  case  in  this  mutable,  imperfect 
state. 

The  just  ruler  will  not  fear  to  have  his  public  conduct 
critically  inspected,  but  will  choose  to  recommend  himself 
to  the  approbation  of  every  man.  As  he  expects  to  be 
obeyed  for  conscience'  sake,  he  will  require  nothing  incon- 
sistent with  its  dictates,  and  be  desirous  that  the  most 
scrupulous  mind  may  acquiesce  in  the  justice  of  his  rule. 
As  in  his  whole  administration,  so  in  this,  he  will  be  am- 
bitious to  imitate  the  Supreme  Ruler,  who  appeals  to  his 

1  As  they  had  done  in  the  case  of  the  Stamp  Act,  for  instance.  —  Ed. 


OF   CIVIL    GOVERNMENT.  167 

people  —  "Are  not  my  ways  equal  ?  "  Knowing,  therefore, 
that  his  conduct  will  bear  the  light,^  and  his  public  char- 
acter be  established  by  being  fully  known,  he  will  rather 
encourage  than  discountenance  a  decent  freedom  of  speech, 
not  only  in  public  assemblies,  but  among  the  people.  This 
liberty  is  essential  to  a  free  constitution,  and  the  ruler's 
surest  guide.  As  in  nature  we  best  judge  of  causes  by 
their  effects,  so  rulers  hereby  will  receive  the  surest  in- 
formation of  the  fitness  of  their  laws  ^  and  the  exactness 
of  their  execution,  the  success  of  their  measures,  and 
whether  they  are  chargeable  with  any  mistakes  from  par- 
tial evidence  or  human  frailty,  and  whether  all  acting 
under  them,  in  any  subordinate  place,  express  the  fidelity 
becoming  their  office.  This  decent  liberty  the  just  ruler 
will  consider  not  as  his  grant,  but  a  right  inherent  in  the 
people,  without  which  their  obedience  is  rendered  merely 
passive ;  and  though,  possibly,  under  a  just  administra- 
tion, it  may  degenerate  into  licentiousness,  which  in  its 
extreme  is  subversive  of  all  government,  yet  the  history 
of  past  ages  and  of  our  nation  shows  that  the  greatest 
dangers  have  arisen  from  lawless  power.  The  body  of  a 
people  are  disposed  to  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives,  and 
it  is  their  highest  interest  to  support  the  government 
under  which  their  quietness  is  ensured.  They  retain  a 
reverence  for  their  superiors,  and  seldom  foresee  or  suspect 
danger  till  they  feel  their  burdens. 

1  The  colony  obtained  copies  of  official  correspondence  with  the  British 
ministry,  exposing  the  secrets  and  plots  against  their  liberties.  Six  of 
Governor  Bernard's  and  one  of  General  Gage's  letters  had  been  sent  by 
Mr.  Bollan,  the  colonial  agent,  to  the  Council,  in  April,  1769.  The  disclo- 
sures enraged  the  people,  and  made  the  writers  odious.  —  Ed. 

2  In  his  letter  to  England,  Oct,  20,  1769,  Hutchinson  wrote:  "  I  have  been 
tolerably  treated  since  the  Governor's" — Bernard  —  "departure,  no  other 
charge  being  made  against  me  in  our  scandalous  newspapers  except  my 
bad  principles  in  matters  of  government,"  —  Ed. 


168  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

Rulers  of  every  degree  are  iu  a  measure  above  the  fear 
of  man,  but  are,  equally  with  others,  under  the  restraints 
of  the  divine  law.  The  Almighty  has  not  divested  him- 
self of  his  own  absolute  authority  by  permitting  subordi- 
nate government  among  men.  He  allows  none  to  rule 
otherwise  than  under  him  and  in  his  fear,  and  without  a 
true  fear  of  God  justice  will  be  found  to  be  but  an  empty 
name.  Though  reason  may  in  some  degree  investigate 
the  relation  and  fitness  of  things,  yet  I  think  it  evident 
that  moral  obligations  are  founded  wholly  in  a  belief  of 
God  and  his  superintending  providence.  This  belief, 
deeply  impressed  on  the  mind,  brings  the  most  convincing 
evidence  that  men  are  moral  agents,  obliged  to  act  accord- 
ing to  the  natural  and  evident  relation  of  things,  and  the 
rank  they  bear  in  God's  creation;  that  the  divine  will, 
however  made  known  to  them,  is  the  law  by  which  all 
their  actions  must  be  regulated,  and  their  state  finally  de- 
termined. 

Rulers  may  in  a  degree  be  influenced  to  act  for  the 
public  good  from  education,  from  a  desire  of  applause, 
from  the  natural  benevolence  of  their  temper ;  but  these 
motives  are  feeble  and  inconstant  without  the  superior 
aids  of  religion.  They  are  men  of  like  passions  with 
others,  and  the  true  fear  of  God  only  is  sufiicient  to  con- 
trol the  lusts  of  men,  and  especially  the  lust  of  dominion, 
to  suppress  pride,  the  bane  of  every  desirable  quality  in 
the  human  soul,  the  never-failing  source  of  wanton  and 
capricious  power.  "  So  did  not  I,"  said  the  renowned 
governor  of  Judah,  "because  of  the  fear  of  God."  He 
had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  people.  His  commission  he 
received  from  the  luxurious  Persian  court,  where  the 
voice  of  distress  was  not  heard,  where  no  sad  countenance 
might  appear;  but  he  feared  his  God.  This  moved  him 
to  hear  the  cries  of  his  people,  and  without  delay  redress 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  169 

their  wrongs.  He  knew  this  was  pleasing  to  his  God,  and, 
while  he  acted  in  his  fear,  trusted  he  would  think  upon 
him  for  good.  This  fear  doth  not  intend  simply  a  dread 
of  the  Almighty  as  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  Judge  of  men, 
but  especially  a  filial  reverence,  founded  in  esteem  and 
superlative  love  implanted  in  the  heart.  This  will  natu- 
rally produce  a  conformity  to  God  in  his  moral  perfections, 
an  inclination  to  do  his  will,  and  a  delight  in  those  acts  of 
beneficence  which  the  Maker  of  all  things  displays  through- 
out his  extended  creation.  This  fear  of  God  is  the  begin- 
ning and  also  the  perfection  of  human  wisdom ;  and,  though 
dominion  is  not  absolutely  founded  in  grace,  yet  a  true 
principle  of  religion  must  be  considered  as  a  necessary 
qualification  in  a  ruler. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  teacheth  the  true  fear  of  God,  and 
marvellously  discloseth  the  plan  of  divine  government. 
In  his  gospel,  as  through  a  glass,  we  see  heaven  opened, 
the  mysteries  of  providence  and  grace  unveiled,  Jesus 
sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  to  whom  all  power  is 
committed,  and  coming  to  judge  the  world  in  righteous- 
ness. Here  is  discovered,  to  the  admiration  of  angels,  the 
joy  of  saints,  and  the  terror  of  the  wicked,  the  government 
of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  founded  in  justice  and  mercy, 
which  in  his  glorious  administration  meet  together  in 
perfect  harmony.  The  sceptre  of  his  kingdom  is  a  right 
scejDtre;  he  loveth  righteousness  and  hateth  wickedness. 
And  though  his  throne  is  on  high,  —  prepared  in  the 
heavens,  —  yet  he  makes  known  to  the  sons  of  men  his 
mighty  acts  and  the  glorious  majesty  of  his  kingdom. 
By  him  kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice,  even  all 
the  nobles  and  judges  of  the  earth.  His  eyes  are  upon 
the  ways  of  men.  His  voice,  which  is  full  of  majesty,  to 
earthly  potentates  is.  Be  w^se  now,  O  ye  kings  ;  be  in- 
structed, ye  judges  of  the  earth;  serve  the  Lord  with  fear, 

15 


170  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

and  rejoice  in  your  exalted  stations  with  submissive  awe; 
embrace  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  from  the 
way. 

The  Christian  temper,  wrought  in  the  heart  by  the 
divine  Spirit,  restores  the  human  mind  to  its  primitive 
rectitude,  animates  every  faculty  of  the  soul,  directs  every 
action  to  its  proper  end,  extends  its  views  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  time,  and  raises  its  desires  to  immortal 
glory.  This  makes  the  face  of  every  saint  to  shine,  but 
renders  the  ruler,  in  his  elevated  station,  gloriously  re- 
splendent. This  commands  reverence  to  his  person, 
attention  to  his  counsels,  respect  to  the  laws,  and  author- 
ity to  all  his  directions,  and  renders  an  obedient  people 
easy  and  happy  under  his  rule ;  —  which  leads  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  last  thing  suggested  in  the  text,  viz. : 
The  glorious  effects  of  a  just  administration  of  govern- 
ment. 

"  And  he  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  morning  when  the 
sun  riseth,  even  a  morning  without  clouds ;  as  the  tender 
grass  springing  out  of  the  earth,  by  clear  shining  after 
rain."  This  includes  both  the  disting^uishinor  honor  and 
respect  acquired  by  rulers  of  this  character,  and  the  un- 
speakable felicity  of  a  people  thus  favored  of  the  Lord. 
Justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  the  throne  of 
the  Most  High,  and  he  delighteth  to  honor  those  who  rule 
over  men  in  his  fear.  He  has  dignified  them  with  a  title 
of  divinit}^,  and  called  them,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Highest.  And  we  are  not  to  wonder  that,  in 
the  darker  ages  of  the  world,  from  worshipping  the  host 
of  heaven  the  ignorant  multitude  were  led  to  pay  divine 
honors  to  their  beneficent  rulers,  whom  they  esteemed  as 
demi-gods. 

The  light  of  divine  revelation  has  dispelled  these  mists 
of  superstition  and  impiety,  and  opened  to  the  pious  ruler's 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  171 

view  the  sure  prospect  of  unfading  glory  in  the  life  to 
come ;  and  in  the  present  state  he  is  not  without  his 
reward.  To  find  that  his  conduct  meets  with  public 
approbation,  that  he  is  acceptable  to  the  multitude  of 
his  brethren,  greatly  corroborates  his  internal  evidence 
of  integrity  and  impartiality,  and  especially  of  his  ability 
for  public  action,  and  —  which  is  the  height  of  his  ambition 
in  this  state  of  probation  —  enlarges  his  opportunity  of 
doing  good.  The  shouts  of  applause  —  not  from  sordid 
parasites,  but  the  grateful,  the  artless  multitude  —  the 
i^ious  ruler  receives  as  the  voice  of  nature  —  the  voice 
of  God.  This  is  his  support  under  the  weight  of  govern- 
ment, and  fixes  his  dependence  upon  the  aid  of  the  Al- 
mighty, in  whose  fear  he  rules.  How  excellent  in  the 
sight  of  God  and  man  are  rulers  of  this  character  ! 

Truly  the  light  is  good,  and  a  pleasant  thing  it  is  to 
behold  the  sun.  Thus  desirable,  thus  benign,  are  wise 
and  faithful  rulers  to  a  people.  The  beautiful  allusion 
in  the  text  naturally  illustrates  this.  The  sun,  as  the 
centre  of  the  solar  system,  connects  the  planetary  worlds, 
and  retains  them  in  their  respective  orbits.  They  all 
yield  to  the  greater  force  of  his  attractive  power,  and  thus 
with  the  greatest  regularity  observe  the  laws  impressed 
upon  tlie  material  creation.  The  ruler  of  the  day,  as  on  a 
throne,  shining  in  his  strength,  nearly  preserves  his  station, 
and  under  the  prime  Agent  directs  all  their  motions,  im- 
parting light  and  heat  to  his  several  attendants  and  the 
various  beings  which  the  Creator  has  placed  upon  them. 
His  refulgent  rays  dispel  the  gloomy  shades,  and  cause  the 
cheerful  light  to  arise  out  of  thick  darkness,  and  all  nature 
to  rejoice.  The  planets,  Avith  their  lesser  attendants,  in 
conformity  to  their  common  head,  mutually  reflect  with 
feebler  beams  their  borrowed  light  for  the  common  benefit ; 


172  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

and  all,  in  proportion  to  their  distance  and  gravity,  bear 
their  part  to  support  the  balance  of  the  grand  machine. 

By  this  apposite  metaphor  the  divine  Spirit  has  repre- 
sented the  character  and  extensive  beneficence  of  the 
faithful  ruler,  who,  with  a  godlike  ardor,  employs  his 
authority  and  influence  to  advance  the  common  interest. 
The  righteous  Lord,  whose  countenance  beholdeth  the 
upright,  will  support  and  succeed  rulers  of  this  character, 
and  it  is  an  evidence  of  his  favor  to  a  people  when  such  are 
appointed  to  rule  over  them.  The  natural  effect  of  this  is 
quietness  and  peace,  as  showers  upon  the  tender  grass, 
and  clear  shining  after  rain.  In  this  case  a  loyal  people 
must  be  happy,  and  fully  sensible  that  they  are  so,  while 
they  find  their  persons  in  safety,  their  liberties  preserved, 
their  property  defended,  and  their  confidence  in  their 
rulers  entire.  The  necessary  expenses^  of  the  govern- 
ment will  be  borne  by  the  community  with  pleasure  while 
justice  holds  the  balance  and  righteousness  flows  down 
their  streets. 

Such  a  civil  state,  according  to  the  natural  course  of 
things,  must  flourish  in  peace  at  home,  and  be  respectable 
abroad;  private  virtues  will  be  encouraged,  and  vice 
driven  into  darkness  ;  industry  in  the  most  effectual  man- 
ner promoted,  arts  and  sciences  patronized,  the  true  fear 
of  God  cultivated,  and  his  worship  maintained.  This  — 
this  is  their  only  invaluable  treasure.  This  is  the  glory, 
safety,  and  best  interest  of  rulers  —  the  sure  protection  and 
durable  felicity  of  a  people.  This,  through  the  Redeemer, 
renders  the  Almighty  propitious,  and  nigh  unto  a  people 
in  all  they  call  upon  him  for.  Happy  must  the  people  be 
that  is  in  such  a  case ;  yea,  happy  is  the  people  whose 
God  is  the  Lord. 

'  See  p.  164,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


OF   CIVIL    GOVERNMENT.  173 

But  the  affairs  of  this  important  clay  demand  our  more 
immediate  attention. 

With  sincere  gratitude  to  our  Almighty  Preserver,  we 
see  the  return  of  this  anniversary,  and  the  leaders  of  this 
people  assembled  —  though  not,  according  to  the  general 
desire,  in  the  city  ^  of  our  solemnities  —  to  ask  counsel  of 
God,  and,  as  we  trust,  in  the  integrity  of  their  hearts,  and 
by  the  skilfulness  of  their  hands,  to  lead  us  in  ways  of 
righteousness  and  peace.  The  season  indeed  is  dark ; 
but  God  is  our  sun  and  shield.  When  we  consider  the 
days  of  old,  and  the  years  of  ancient  time,  the  scene 
brightens,  our  hopes  revive.^  Our  fathers  trusted  in  God; 
he  was  their  help  and  their  shield. 

These  ever-memorable  worthies,  nearly  a  century  and  a 
half  since,  by  the  prevalence  of  spiritual  and  civil  tyranny, 
were  driven  from  their  delightful  native  land  to  seek  a 
quiet  retreat  in  these  uncultivated  ends  of  the  earth ;  and, 
however  doubtful  it  might  appear  to  them,  or  others, 
w^hether  the  lands  they  were  going  to  possess  were  prop- 

1  At  the  Town-House,  in  Boston,  from  which  usucal  place  of  legisla- 
tion the  arbitrary  interference  of  the  king  excluded  us.  This  show  of 
despotism,  rather  than  the  inconvenience,  is  the  real  objection  to  sitting  at 
Cambridge.  —  Ed. 

2  Here  is  a  clear  and  beautiful  reference  to  the  principles  and  history  of 
New  England,  and  of  "  the  glorious  Revolution  "  of  1689  —  a  reminis- 
cence very  profitable  for  Governor  Hutchinson  to  reflect  on,  and  very  sug- 
gestive to  the  Board  of  Councillors  and  House  of  Representatives  who 
hear  it,  and  to  all  people  who  may  read  it.  Samuel  Adams,  Clerk,  and 
now  "  the  most  active  member  of  the  House,"  will  see  that  it  is  published 
and  circulated.  It  suggests  precedents  for  curing  the  present  ills  in  our 
body  politic,  if  gentler  remedies,  such  as  petitions  and  remonstrances, 
prove  to  be  insufficient.  Dr.  Mayhew,  twenty  years  before  this,  considered 
in  his  pulpit "  the  extent  of  that  subjection  to  the  higher  powers  which 
is  enjoined  as  a  duty  upon  all  Christians.  Some,"  he  said,  "  have  thought 
it  warrantable  and  glorious  to  disobey  the  civil  powers  in  certain  cases, 
and  in  cases  of  very  great  and  general  oppression,"  etc.  See  the  passage 
on  pages  62,  63.  —  Ed. 

15* 


174  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

erly  under  the  English  jurisdiction,  yet  our  ancestors  were 
desirous  of  retaining  a  relation  to  their  native  country, 
and  to  be  considered  as  subjects  of  the  same  prince.  They 
left  their  native  land  with  the  strongest  assurances  that 
they  and  their  posterity  should  enjoy  the  privileges  of 
free,  natural-born  English  subjects,  which  they  supposed 
fully  comprehended  in  their  charter.  The  powers  of  gov- 
ernment therein  confirmed  to  them  they  considered  as 
including  English  liberty  in  its  full  extent ;  and  however 
defective  their  charter  might  be  in  form,  —  a  thing  common 
in  that  day,  —  yet  the  spirit  and  evident  intention  of  it 
appears  to  be  then  understood.  The  reserve  therein  made, 
of  passing  no  laws  contrary  to  those  of  the  parent  state, 
was  then  considered  as  a  conclusive  evidence  of  their  full 
power,  under  that  restriction  only,  to  enact  whatever  laws 
they  should  judge  conducive  to  their  benefit. 

Our  fathers  supposed  their  purchase  of  the  aboriginals 
gave  them  a  just  title  to  the  lands;  that  the  produce  of 
them,  by  their  labor,  was  their  property,  which  they  had 
an  exclusive  right  to  dispose  of;  that  a  legislative  power,  re- 
specting their  internal  polity,  was  ratified  to  them  ;  and  that 
nothing  short  of  this,  considering  their  local  circumstances, 
could  entitle  them  or  their  posterity  to  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  free,  natural-born  English  subjects.  And  it 
does  not  appear  but  that  this  was  the  general  sentiment 
of  the  nation  and  Parliament.^  They  did  not  then  view 
their  American  adventurers  in  the  light  ancient  Rome  did 

1  This  was  a  complimentary  and  politic  view,  no  doubt;  but  to  Massa- 
chusetts the  price  of  her  liberty  had  been  eternal  vigilance.  Indifference 
to  the  colonies,  the  changes  of  government,  the  contests  between  liberty 
and  despotism  in  England,  each  in  turn  were  opportunities  to  our  fathers 
for  defeathig  the  ceaseless  intrigues  of  our  enemies.  The  history  of  our 
charters,  treated  as  a  speciality,  would  be  a  proud  monument  to  the  pru- 
dence, judgment,  foresight,  tact— the  statesmanship  —  of  the  fathers  of 
New  England.  —  Ed. 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  175 

her  distant  colonies,  as  tributaries  unjustly  subjected  to 
arbitrary  rule  by  the  dread  or  force  of  her  victorious 
arms,  but  as  sons,  arrived  to  mature  age,  entitled  to  dis- 
tinct property,  yet  connected  by  mutual  ties  of  affection 
and  interest,  and  united  under  the  common  supreme  head. 
The  New  England  charter  was  not  considered  as  an  act 
of  grace,  but  a  compact  between  the  sovereign  and  the 
first  patentees.  Our  fathers  plead  their  right  to  the  priv- 
ilege of  it  in  their  address  ^  to  King  Charles  the  Second, 
wherein  they  say  "  it  was  granted  to  them,  their  heirs, 
assigns,  and  associates  forever ;  not  only  the  absolute  use 
and  propriety  of  the  tract  of  land  therein  mentioned,  but 
also  full  and  absolute  power  of  governing  all  the  people 

1  After  the  restoration  of  monarchy,  in  16G0,  and  the  "  Charles  the  Mar- 
tyr" clergy  and  coifl-tiers  were  reinstated,  —  not  by  the  aid  of  the  Inde- 
pendents, —  the  old  Laudian  hate  of  New  England  became  rampant,  and 
we  find  abundant  letters  from  their  emissaries  to  Clarendon,  to  the  Bishop 
of  London,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  like,  with  a  plenty  of 
reports,  of  "  articles  of  high  misdemeanor,"  writs  of  quo  warranto,  dis- 
courses of  petty  intrigue,  and  other  spawn  of  such  creatures  as  Andros, 
Randolph,  and  Maverick.  The  Revolution  of  1689,  simultaneous  in  Old 
England  and  New  England,  blasted  their  hopes.  The  four  commissioners, 
Nichols,  Cartwright,  Carr,  and  Maverick,  —  any  two  or  three  of  them  to 
be  a  quorum,  —  were  commissioned  by  Charles  II.,  in  1664,  to  travel 
through  New  England  to  look  out  for  "  the  reputation  and  credit  of 
Christian  religion,  (!)  as  an  evidence  and  manifestation  of  our  fatherly 
affection  towards  all  our  subjects  ...  in  New  England,  .  .  .  their 
liberties  and  privileges."  (!)  "All  complaints  and  appeals,  in  all  causes 
and  matters,  as  well  military  as  criminal  and  civil,"  to  be  "  determined 
.  .  ,  according  to  their  good  and  sound  discretions."  Thus,  by  one 
dash  of  his  pen,  "  Charles  R."  proposed  to  overthrow  every  institution  of 
government  in  New  England;  and  his  commissioners  —  one  of  them  the 
most  active  and  malicious,  and  a  debased  and  brutal  man,  as  his  name 
then  stood  on  the  criminal  records  of  Massachusetts  —  are  simply,  "  from 
time  to  time,  as  they  shall  find  expedient,  to  certify  us,  or  our  privy  coun- 
cil, of  their  actings  and  proceedings  touching  the  premises."  This  Avas 
one  of  the  occasions  of  the  address  to  King  Charles,  October  25,  16G4.  — 
Hutchinson's  Massachusetts,  Appendix,  xv.  xvi.  —  Ed. 


176  THE   TRUE  PRINCIPLES 

of  this  place  by  men  chosen  from  among  themselves,  and 
according  to  such  laws  as  they  shall  from  time  to  time  see 
meet  to  make  and  establish,  not  being  repugnant  to  the 
laws  of  England ;  they  paying  only  the  fifth  part  of  the 
ore  of  gold  and  silver  that  shall  be  found  here,  for  and  in 
respect  of  all  duties,  demands,  exactions,  and  services 
whatsoever."  And,  from  an  apprehension  that  the  powers 
given  by  the  crown  to  the  four  commissioners  sent  here 
were  in  effect  subversive  of  their  rights  and  government, 
they  add:  "We  are  carefully  studious  of  all  due  subjec- 
tion to  your  Majesty,  and  that  not  only  for  wrath,  but  for 
conscience'  sake."  "But  it  is  a  great  unhappiness  to  be 
reduced  to  so  hard  a  case  as  to  have  no  other  testimony 
of  our  subjection  and  loyalty  offered  us  but  this;  viz.,  to 
destroy  our  own  being,  which  nature  teach eth  us  to  pre- 
serve, or  to  yield  up  our  liberties,  which  dre  far  dearer  to 
us  than  our  lives ;  and  which,  had  we  any  fears  of  being 
deprived  of,  we  had  never  wandered  from  our  fathers' 
houses  into  these  ends  of  the  earth,  nor  laid  out  our  labors 
and  estates  therein." 

But  all  their  humble  addresses  were  to  no  purpose.  As 
an  honorable  historian  observes :  "  At  this  time  Great 
Britain,  and  Scotland  especially,  was  suffering  under  a 
prince  inimical  to  civil  liberty ;  and  New  England,  with- 
out a  miraculous  interposition,  must  expect  to  share  the 
same  judgments."  And,  indeed,  of  this  bitter  cup,  the 
dregs  were  reserved  for  this  people,  in  that  and  the  suc- 
ceeding happily  short  but  inglorious  reign.  Our  charter 
was  dissolved,^  and  despotic  power  took  place.     Sir  Ed- 

1  On  the  18th  of  June,  1C81.  James  II.  was  proclaimed  in  Boston,  1686, 
April  12th;  and.  May  15th,  Dudley  received  a  commission,  as  President, 
with  a  Council,  to  govern  Massachusetts,  which  was  superseded  by  the 
arrival  of  Andros,  December  19,  1686,  as  Governor  of  New  England.  He 
reigned  till  10th  of  April,  1689,  when  he  was  seized  by  the  "  sovereign  " 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  177 

mund  Andros,  —  a  name  never  to  be  forgotten,  —  in  imi- 
tation of  his  royal  master,  in  wanton  triumph  trampled 
upon  all  our  laws  and  rights;  and  his  government  was 
only  tolerable  as  it  was  a  deliverance  from  the  shocking 
terrors  of  the  more  infamous  Kirk.^  Sir  Edmund  at  first 
made  high  professions  of  regard  to  the  public  good.  But 
it  has  been  observed  "that  Nero  concealed  his  tyrannical 
disposition  more  years  than  Sir  Edmund  and  his  creatures 
did  months." 

But  the  triumphing  of  the  wicked  is  often  short.^     The 
glorious  revolution,  under  the  Prince  of  Orange,  displayed 

people,  and  late  in  the  year  was  "  sent  in  safe  custody"  to  England. 
Andros  was  a  fit  instrument  for  James  II.,  who  commended  the  atrocities 
of  a  JeflTries,  and  would  sell  his  crown  and  his  people  to  France.  — Ed. 

1  He  was  colonel  of  the  troops  which  assisted  Judge  Jeffries  in  his 
butcheries  in  the  west  of  England,  which  the  "  Catholic"  James  II.  de- 
lighted to  relate  to  his  foreign  ambassadors.  "  Kirke  would  give  his 
ofiicers  a  grand  dinner;  on  the  removal  of  the  cloth  the  health  of  the 
king  and  queen  was  drunk,  and  at  this  signal  the  executioners  hanged, 
under  the  very  eyes  of  the  guests,  and  to  the  sound  of  military  instru- 
ments, the  latest  prisoners,  whose  dying  agonies  merely  excited  hideous 
mirth."  He  thus  put  to  death  nearly  six  hundred  persons.  "When 
closely  pressed  to  become  a  Papist,  he  answered  that  he  was  preengaged ; 
having  promised  the  Emperor  of  Morocco,  if  he  ever  did  change  his  reli- 
gion, that  he  would  turn  Mohammedan."  Randolph,  the  correspondent 
of  Bancroft,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  a  letter  from  Boston,  in  1G86, 
writes  to  his  "  Grace"  that  the  colonists  "  have  been  struck  with  a  panioke 
feare  upon  the  apprehension  of  Col.  Kurck's  coming  hither  to  be  their 
governor,"  and  entertains  "  his  Grace"  with  petty  scandal  and  unscrupu- 
lous plottings  about  "  the  affaires  of  our  chm'ch"  in  Massachusetts.  This 
was  in  reply  to  the  prelate's  inquiries,  who  was  anxious  to  "  propagate 
the  gospel  in  foreign  parts." — Carrel's  Counter-Revolution  in  England, 
ed.  1857.  197,  213;  Hutchinson's  Collections,  549,  552.  —  Ed. 

2  Governor  Hutchinson  cannot  have  listened  to  this  sermon,  and  its 
implied  parallel  of  the  times  of  Andros  with  his  own  official  period,  with- 
out discomfort,  and  perhaps  regret.  His  own  pen  had  recorded,  in  his 
History  of  Massachusetts,  the  infamy  of  the  men  of  these  times,  and  he 
himself  was  plainly  on  the  high  road  to  promotion  or  to  —  perdition. 
—  Ed. 


178  THE   TRUE  PRmCIPLES 

a  brighter  scene  to  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies ;  and 
though  no  part  of  its  extended  empire  did  bear  a  greater 
part  in  the  joy  of  that  memorable  event  than  this  prov- 
iuce,  yet  it  was  then  apprehended  we  were  not  the  great- 
est sharers  in  the  happy  effects  of  it.  I  trust  we  are  not 
insensible  of  the  blessings  we  then  received,  nor  unthankful 
for  our  deliverance  from  the  depths  of  woe. 

We  submitted  to  the  form  of  government  established 
under  our  present  charter/  trusting,  under  God,  in  the 
wisdom  and  paternal  tenderness  of  our  gracious  sovereign, 
that  in  all  appointments  reserved  to  the  crown  a  sacred 
regard  would  be  maintained  to  the  rights  of  British  sub- 
jects, and  that  the  royal  ear  would  always  be  open  to 
every  reasonable  request  and  complaint.  It  is  far  from 
my  intention  to  determine  whether  there  has  been  just 
reason  for  uneasiness  or  complaint  on  this  account.  But, 
with  all  submission,  I  presume  the  present  occasion  will 
permit  me  to  say  that  the  importance  of  his  Majesty's 
Council  to  this  people  appears  in  a  more  conspicuous 
light  since  the  endeavors  which  have  been  used  to  render 
this  invaluable  branch  of  our  constitution  wholly  depend- 
ent upon  the  chair.  Should  this  ever  be  the  case,  —  which 
God  forbid  !  —  liberty  here  will  case.  This  day  of  the 
gladness  of  our  hearts  will  be  turned  into  the  deepest 
sorrow. 

The  authority  and  influence  of  his  Majesty's  Council, 
in  various  resj^ects,  while  hapj^ily  free  from  restraints,  is 

1  The  "province"  charter  of  October  7,  1G91,  was  suhmittcd  to  not 
without  reluctance.  By  it  the  governor  had  the  sole  appointment  of 
military  officers,  of  officers  of  the  courts  of  justice  with  the  consent  of  the 
Council,  and  a  negative  on  all  others  chosen  by  the  General  Court:  so  that, 
as  the  governor  held  his  commission  from  tlie  crown,  they  were,  in  effect, 
royal  appointments,  though  not  salaried  by  the  crown.  Under  the  former 
charter  all  were  chosen  by  the  General  Court,  and  so  accountable  to  the 
people.    Sec  note  1,  p.  1G4.  —  Ed. 


OF    CIVIL    GOVERNMENT.  179 

momentous;  our  well-being  greatly  dej^ends  upon  their 
wisdom  and  integrity.^  The  concern  of  electing  to  this 
important  trust  wise  and  faithful  men  belongeth  to  our 
honored  fathers  now  in  General  Assembly  convened. 
Men  of  this  character,  we  trust,  are  to  be  found;  and  upon 
such,  and  only  such,  we  presume  will  the  eye  of  the  electors 
be  this  day.  It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  see  this  choice  in 
the  hands  of  a  very  respectable  part  of  the  community, 
and  nearly  interested  in  the  effects  of  it.  But  our  reliance, 
fiithers,  under  God,  is  upon  your  acting  in  his  fear.  God 
standeth  in  the  assembly  of  the  mighty,  and  perfectly 
discerns  the  motives  by  which  you  act.  May  his  fear  rule 
in  your  hearts,  and  unerring  counsel  be  your  guide.     You 


1  It  was  usual  to  elect  the  lieutenant-governor,  provincial  secretary, 
attorney -general,  and  one  or  more  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  the 
Council.  They  were  a  sort  of  privy  council.  But,  in  1766,  their  seats 
were  filled  by  the  opponents  to  the  Stamp  Act,  and  after  this  the  governor 
found  in  each  successive  year  fewer  friends  in  council.  The  lieutenant- 
goveraor,  — Hutchinson,  —  in  his  History  of  Massachusetts,  published  in 
the  next  year,  —  1767,  —  treating  of  the  Council,  declared  the  government 
of  Massachusetts,  and  of  other  provinces,  defective,  for  want  of  a  branch 
with  "  that  glorious  independence  which  makes  the  House  of  Lords  the 
bulwark  of  the  British  constitution."  Still  he  thought  "  the  colonies  not 
ripe  for  hereditaiy  honors"!  In  a  series  of  letters,  in  November  and 
December,  1768,  Governor  Bernard  urges  that  the  king  should  appoint  a 
royal  council,  instead  of  that  elected  by  the  people,  and  suggests  an  act  of 
Parliament  authorizing  the  king  —  Governor  Bernard  being  his  repre- 
sentative—  to  supersede  a/Z  commissions  to  improper  persons;  and  Mr. 
Oliver,  in  February,  1769,  in  letters  to  England,  objects  to  the  Council 
, "  as  altogether" —  too  —  "  dependent  on  their  constituents  ....  to 
answer  the  idea  of  the  House  of  Lords  in  the  British  Legislature." 

After  1766,  the  Council  and  the  House  harmonized  in  their  measures, 
and  the  unhappy  governors,  left  solitary  and  alone,  sought  relief  by 
plotting  for  the  overthrow  of  "  this  invaluable  branch  of  our  constitu- 
tion." The  schemes  of  these  traitors  to  liberty  —names  indelible  on  the 
darkest  roll  of  pohtical  baseness  —  were  adopted  by  the  British  ministry 
four  years  later,  in  1774;  but  the  colonists  "trusted  in  God  and  kept  their 
powder  dry."— Ed. 


180  THE    TRITE    PRINCIPLES 

have  received  a  Sure  token  of  respect  by  your  being  raised 
to  this  high  trust;  but  true  honor  is  acquired  only  by 
acting  in  character.  Honor  yourselves,  gentlemen,  — 
honor  the  council-board,  your  country,  your  king,  and 
your  God,  by  the  choice  you  this  day  make.  You  will 
attentively  consider  the  true  design  of  all  true  government, 
and,  without  partiality,  give  your  voice  for  those  you 
judge  most  capable  and  disposed  to  promote  the  public 
interest.  Then  you  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  having 
faithfully  discharged  your  trust,  and  be  sure  of  the  appro- 
bation of  the  Most  High. 

The  chief  command  in  this  province  is  now  devolved 
upon  one^  of  distinguished  abilities,  who  knows  our  state, 
and  naturally  must  care  for  us,  —  one  who,  in  early  life, 
has  received  from  his  country  the  highest  tokens  of  honor 
and  trust  in  its  power  to  bestow ;  and  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  that  the  higher  degrees  of  them  conferred  by 
our  gracious  sovereign  will  operate  through  the  course  of 
his  administration  to  the  welfare  of  this  people.  His 
Honor  is  not  insensible  that,  as  his  power  is  independent 
of  the  people,  their  safety  must  depend,  under  Providence, 
upon  his  wisdom,  justice,  and  paternal  tenderness  in  the 
exercise  of  it.  It  is  our  ardent  wish  and  prayer  that  his 
administration  may  procure  ease  and  quietness  to  himself 


1  Thomas  Hutchinson,  distinj^uishcd  as  the  historian  of  the  province, 
and  excellent  in  private  life,  but  whose  ambition  quickened  his  conscience 
only  in  his  duty  to  the  king,  and  made  him  an  enemy  to  his  country. , 
Born  September  9,  1711,  of  an  ancient  and  honorable  family,  he  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1727,  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen ;  was  of  the  Coun- 
cil from  1749  to  17G6;  lieutenant-governor  from  1758  to  1771;  in  1760  ap- 
pointed Chief  Justice,  and  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  government,  after 
the  departure  of  Governor  Bernard.  Faithful  to  the  British  ministry  in  all 
its  measures,  some  of  which  he  suggested,  he  left  his  native  country  June 
1st,  1774,  and  died  in  England  in  June,  1780,  Eliot  and  Allen  have  ample 
notices  of  him.  —  Ed. 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  181 

and  the  province  ;  and,  having  served  his  generation 
according  to  the  Divine  will,  he  may  rise  to  sui^erior 
honors  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

When  the  elections  of  this  important  day  are  deter- 
mined, what  further  remains  to  be  undertaken  for  the 
securing  our  liberties,  promoting  peace  and  good  order, 
and,  above  all,  the  advancement  of  religion,  the  true  fear 
of  God  through  the  land,  will  demand  the  highest  attention 
of  the  General  Assembly.  We  trust  the  Fountain  of 
light,  who  giveth  wisdom  freely,  will  not  scatter  darkness 
in  your  paths,  and  that  the  day  is  far  distant  when  there 
shall  be  cause  justly  to  complain,  The  foundations  are 
destroyed  —  what  can  the  righteous  do?  Our  present 
distresses,  civil  fathers,  loudly  call  upon  us  all,  and  you 
in  special,  to  stir  up  ourselves  in  the  fear  of  God.  Arise ! 
—  this  matter  belongeth  unto  you ;  we  also  will  be  with 
you.     Be  of  good  courage,  and  do  it. 

Whether  any  other  laws  are  necessary  for  this  purpose, 
or  whether  there  is  a  failure  in  the  execution  of  the  laws 
in  being,  I  presume  not  to  say.  But,  with  all  due  respect, 
I  may  be  permitted  to  affirm  that  no  human  authority 
can  enforce  the  practice  of  religion  with  equal  success  to 
your  example.  Your  example,  fathers,  not  only  in  your 
public  administrations,  but  also  in  private  life,  will  be  the 
most  forcible  law  —  the  most  effectual  means  to  teach  us 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  to  depart  from  evil.  Then,  and 
not  till  then,  shall  we  be  free  indeed  ;  being  delivered  from 
the  dominion  of  sin,  we  become  the  true  sons  of  God. 

The  extent  of  the  secular  power  in  matters  of  religion 
is  undetermined ;  but  all  agree  that  the  example  of  those 
in  authority  has  the  greatest  influence  upon  the  manners  of 
the  people.    We  are  far  from  pleading  for  any  established^ 

1  "  Civil  rulers  ought  undoubtedly  to  be  nursing  fathers  to  the  church, 

16 


182  THE   TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

mode  of  worship,  but  an  operative  fear  of  God,  the  honor 
of  the  Redeemer,  the  everlasting  King,  according  to  his 
gospel.  We,  whose  peculiar  charge  it  is  to  instruct  the 
people,  preach  to  little  purpose  while  those  in  an  ad- 
vanced state,  by  their  practice,  say  the  fear  of  God  is  not 
before  their  eyes ;  yet  will  we  not  cease  to  seek  the  Lord 
till  he  come  and  rain  down  righteousness  upon  us. 

I  trust  on  this  occasion  I  may  without  offence  plead  the 
cause  of  our  African  slaves,  and  humbly  propose  the  pur- 
suit of  some  effectual  measures  at  least  to  prevent  the 
future  importation  of  them.  Difficulties  insuperable,  I 
apprehend,  prevent  an  adequate  remedy  for  what  is  past. 
Let  the  time  j^ast  more  than  suffice  wherein  we,  the  patrons 
of  liberty,  have  dishonored  the  Christian  name,  and  de- 
graded human  nature  nearly  to  a  level  with  the  beasts 
that  perish.  Ethiopia  has  long  stretched  out  her  hands  to 
us.  Let  not  sordid  gain,  acquired  by  the  merchandise  of 
slaves  and  the  souls  of  men,  harden  our  hearts  against  her 
piteous  moans.^     When  God  ariseth,  and  when  he  visiteth, 

by  reproof,  exhortation,  and  their  own  good  and  liberal  example,  as  well 
as  to  protect  and  defend  her  against  injustice  and  oppression;  but  the  very 
notion  of  taxing  all  to  support  any  religious  denomination,"  etc.  —  Address  of 
the  Baptists  to  the  Congress  at  Cambridge,  Nov.  22,  1776. 

By  the  amendment  of  the  constitution,  in  1833,  the  absolute  sepai'ation 
of  church  and  state  was  completed.  On  this  sul>jcct  see  "  Life  and  Times 
of  Isaac  Backus,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hovey,  1838.  —  Ed. 

1  The  suggestion  of  the  preacher  was  heeded.  "A  Bill  to  prevent  the 
Importation  of  Slaves  from  Africa  into  this  Province"  was  passed  in  the 
House,  but  an  amendment  was  proposed  by  the  Council,  and  it  seems  to 
have  gone  no  further.  In  1767  and  1774,  Massachusetts  passed  laws 
against  slavery,  which  were  vetoed  by  express  instructions  from  England. 
The  inhabitants  of  Boston,  at  a  town  meeting,  held  May  26,  1766,  for  in- 
structing their  representatives,  —  Otis,  Cushing,  Adams,  and  Hancock, — 
charged  them  "  to  be  very  watchful  .  .  .  for  the  total  abolishing  of 
slavery  from  among  us;  .  .  .  to  move  for  a  law  to  prohibit  the  impor- 
tation and  purchasing  slaves  for  the  future."  In  the  first  draft  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  this  paragraph:  "He"— the  king  — 


OP   CIVIL    GOVERNMENT.  183 

what  shall  we  answer?  May  it  be  the  glory  of  this  prov- 
ince, of  this  respectable  General  Assembly,  and,  we  could 
wish,  of  this  session,  to  lead  in  the  cause  of  the  oppressed. 
This  will  avert  the  impending  vengeance  of  Heaven,  pro- 
cure you  the  blessing  of  multitudes  of  your  fellow-men 
ready  to  perish,  be  highly  approved  by  our  common  Father, 
who  is  no  respecter  of  ^  persons,  and,  we  trust,  an  example 
which  would  excite  the  highest  attention  of  our  sister 
colonies.  May  we  all,  both  rulers  and  people,  in  this  day 
of  doubtful  expectation,  know  and  practise  the  things  of 
our  peace,  and  serve  the  Lord  our  God  without  disquiet 
in  the  inheritance  which  he  granted  unto  our  fathers. 
These  adventurous  worthies,  animated  by  sublimer  pros- 
pects, dearly  purchased  this  land  with  their  treasure  ;  they 
and  their  posterity  have  defended  it  with  unknown  cost,* 
in  continual  jeopardy  of  their  lives,  and  with  their  blood. 
Through  the  good  hands  of  our  God  upon  us,  we  have 
for  a  few  years  past  been  delivered  from  the  merciless 
sword  of  the  wilderness,^  and  enjoyed  peace  in  our  borders ; 
and  there  is  in  the  close  of  our  short  summer  the  appear- 
ance of  plenty  in  our  dwellings ;  but,  from  the  length  of 


a  "  Be  it  far  from  me,  O  Lord,"  said  the  ancient  hero,  "that  I  should  do  this. 
Is  not  this  the  blood  of  the  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives?  "  There- 
fore he  would  not  drink  it.  Will  not  the  like  sentiments  rise  in  a  generous 
mind  thrust  into  our  possessions?  » 

"  has  waged  crael  war  against  hiiman  nature  itself,  violating  its  most 
sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people  who 
never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  another 
hemisphere,  or  to  incur  miserable  death  in  their  transportation  thither. 
This  piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  infidel  powers,  is  the  warfare  of 
the  Christian  King  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep  open  a  market 
where  men  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  has  prostituted  his  negative  for 
suppressing  every  legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  restrain  this  execrable 
commerce."  —  Ed. 

1  Not  much  troubled  by  French  and  Indians  since  the  conquest  of  Can- 
ada, in  1759-GO.  —  Ed. 


184  THE    TRUE   PRINCIPLES 

our  winters,  our  plenty  is  consumed,  and  the  one  half  of 
our  necessary  labor  is  spent  in  dispersing  to  our  flocks  and 
herds  the  ingatherings  of  the  foregoing  season  ;  and  it  is 
known  to  every  person  of  common  observation  that  few, 
very  few,  except  in  the  mercantile  way,  from  one  gener- 
ation to  another,  acquire  more  than  a  necessary  subsistence, 
and  sufiicient  to  discharge  the  expenses  of  government  and 
the  support  of  the  gospel,  yet  content  and  disposed  to  lead 
peaceable  lives.  From  misinformations  only,  we  would 
conclude,  recent  disquiets  have  arisen.  They  need  not  be 
mentioned  —  they  are  too  well  known ;  their  voice  is 
gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  their  sound  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  The  enemies  of  Great  Britain  hold  us  in 
derision  while  her  cities  and  colonies  are  thus  perplexed.^ 
America  now  pleads  her  right  to  her  possessions,  which 
she  cannot  resign  while  she  apprehends  she  has  truth  and 
justice  on  her  side. 

Americans  esteem  it  their  greatest  infelicity  that, 
through  necessity,  they  are  thus  led  to  plead  with  their 
parent  state,  —  the  land  of  their  forefathers'  nativity,  — 
whose  interest  has  always  been  dear  to  them,-''  and  whose 
wealth  they  have  increased  by  their  removal  more  than 
their  own.  They  have  assisted  in  fighting  her  battles,  and 
greatly  enlarged  her  empire,  and,  God  helping,  will  yet 
extend  it  througji  the  boundless  desert,  until  it  reach  from 
sea  to  sea.  They  glory  in  the  British  constitution,  and 
are  abhorrent,  to  a  man,  of  the  most  distant  thought  of 
withdrawing  their  allegiance  from  their  gracious  sovereign 


a  Their  losses  and  private  expenses,  in  watches,  guards,  and  garrisons  for  their 
defence,  and  from  continual  alarms,  in  all  their  former  wars,  have  greatly  ex- 
ceeded the  public  charges. 

1  "  The  enemies  of  Great  Britain  "  scorned  the  complaints  of  the  colo- 
nies against  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  ministry  as  unavailing,  and 
laughed  at  their  supposed  helplessness  against  wrong.  —  Ed. 


OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.  185 

and  becoming  an  independent  state.  And  though,  with 
unwearied  toil,  the  colonists  can  now  subsist  upon  the 
labors  of  their  own  hands,  which  they  must  be  driven  to 
when  deprived  of  the  means  of  purchase,  yet  they  are 
fully  sensible  of  the  mutual  benefits  of  an  equitable  com- 
merce with  the  parent  country,  and  cheerfully  submit  to 
regulations  of  trade  productive  of  the  common  interest. 
These  their  claims  the  Americans  consider  not  as  novel, 
or  wantonly  made,  but  founded  in  nature,  in  compact,  in 
their  right  as  men  and  British  subjects  ;  the  same  which 
their  forefathers,  the  first  occupants,  made  and  asserted  as 
the  terms  of  their  removal,  with  their  effects,  into  this 
wilderness,*  and  with  which  the  glory  and  interest  of  their 
king  and  all  his  dominions  are  connected.  May  these 
alarming  disputes  be  brought  to  a  just  and  speedy  issue, 
and  peace  and  harmony  be  restored ! 

But  while,  in  imitation  of  our  pious  forefathers,  we  are 
aiming  at  the  security  of  our  liberties,  we  should  all  be 
concerned  to  express  by  our  conduct  their  piety  and  vir- 
tue, and  in  a  day  of  darkness  and  general  distress  care- 
fully avoid  everything  ofiensive  to  God  or  injurious  to 
men.  It  belongs  not  only  to  rulers,  but  subjects  also,  to 
set  the  Lord  always  before  their  face,  and  act  in  his  fear. 
While  under  government  we  claim  a  right  to  be  treated 
as  men,  we  must  act  in  character  by  yielding  that  subjec- 
tion which  becometh  us  as  men.  Let  every  attempt  to 
secure  our  liberties  be  conducted  with  a  manly  fortitude, 
but  with  that  respectful  decency  which  reason  approves, 

a  It  is  apprehended  a  greater  sacrifice  of  private  interest  to  the  public  good, 
both  of  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies,  hath  at  no  time  been  made  than  that  of 
the  patriotic  merchants  of  thiS  and  all  the  considerable  colonies,  by  their  non- 
importation agreement.  And  whatever  the  effects  may  be,  their  names  will  be 
remembered  with  gratitude  to  the  latest  generations,  by  all  true  friends  to 
Britain  and  her  colonies. 

16* 


186  TRUE   PRINCIPLES   OF   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT. 

and  which  alone  gives  weight  to  the  most  salutary  meas- 
ures. Let  nothing  divert  us  from  the  paths  of  truth  and 
peace,  which  are  the  Avays  of  God,  and  then  we  may  be 
sure  that  he  will  be  with  us,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers, 
and  never  leave  nor  forsake  us. 

Our  fathers  —  where  are  they  ?  They  looked  for  another 
and  better  country,  that  is,  an  heavenly.  They  were  but 
as  sojourners  here,  and  have  long  since  resigned  these 
their  transitory  abodes,  and  are  securely  seated  in  man- 
sions of  glory.  They  hear  not  the  voice  of  the  oppressor. 
We  also  are  all  strangers  on  earth,  and  must  soon,  without 
distinction,  lie  down  in  the  dust,  and  rise  not  till  these 
heavens  and  earth  are  no  more.  May  we  all  realize  the 
appearance  of  the  Son  of  God  to  judge  the  world  in 
righteousness,  and  improve  the  various  talents  committed 
to  our  trust,  that  we  may  then  lift  up  our  heads  with  joy, 
and,  through  grace,  receive  an  inheritance  which  cannot 
be  taken  away,  even  life  everlasting !     Amen. 


DISCOURSE 

PREACHED 

December    15th,    1774, 
Being   the    day   recommended 

By  the  Provincial  Congrefs ; 
And  Afterwards  at  the  Boston  LECTURE. 

By 

WILLIAM  GORDON 

Pastor  of  the  Third    Church  in   Roxbury 


**  And  the  King  confulted  with  the  old  men  that  flood  before 
**  his  father,  while  he  yet  lived,  and  faid,  how  do  ye  advife, 
"  that  I  may  anfwer  this  people  ?  And  they  fpake  unto  him, 
"  faying,  if  thou  wilt  be  a  fervant  unto  this  people  this  day, 
"  and  wilt  ferve  them,  and  anfwer  them,  and  fpeak  good 
"  words  to  them,  then  they  will  be  thy  fervants  for  ever." 
I  Kings.    12.  6,  7. 

"  I  ardently  wifh  that  the  common  enemies  to  both  countries 
"  may  fee  to  their  difappointment,  that  thefe  difputes  be- 
*'  tween  the  Mother  country,  and  the  colonies  have  termina- 
"  ted  like  the  quarrels  of  lovers,  and  increafed  the  affeflion 
"  which  they  ought  to  bear  to  each  other." 

Governor  Gage's  Letter  to  the  Hon.  Peyton  Randolph,  Efq; 


The  Second  Edition. 


BOSTON:      Printed    for,    and    Sold    by    Thomas 
LEVERETT,in  Corn-Hill.      illS' 


NOTE 


The  Boston  Thursday  Lecture,  at  which  Mr.  Gordon  repeated  this  sermon, 
was  founded  by  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  in  1633,  and  yet  retains  a  lingering 
existence,  as  an  opportunity  for  ministerial  gatherings.  It  was  the  occasion 
for  presenting,  and  sometimes  discussing,  questions  of  general,  social,  or  politi- 
cal interest;  and  a  collection  of  the  Thursday  lectures,  or  sermons,  for  the  first 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  would  be  a  faithful  epitome  of  the  current  and  progress 
of  public  opinion  during  that  period.  It  would  hardly  be  an  exaggeration  to 
say  that  much  of  the  early  colonial  legislation  was  merely  declaratory  of  what 
had  fallen  from  oracular  lips  in  the  Thursday  pulpit.  So  general  was  the  in- 
terest in  the  occasion,  that  it  was  established  by  authority  as  the  "  market  day." 
The  institution  illustrates  the  politico-theological  history  of  New  England  as 
stated  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volume.  *'  The  Shade  of  the  Fast "  is  the  title 
of  Rev.  N.  L.  Frothingham's  sermon  on  "The  close  of  the  Second  Century 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Thursday  Lecture."  Rev.  R.  C  Waterston 
preached,  December  14, 1843,  "  A  Discourse  in  the  First  Church  on  the  Occasion 
of  Resuming  the  Thursday  Lecture."  —  Ed. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

A  BEIEF  OF  EVENTS  FROM  MARCH,  1770,  TO  DECEMBER,  1774. 


The  reasons  which  led  to  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  prevailed  also 
against  the  act  of  1767,  which  was  repealed  in  March,  1770,  excepting  as  to 
the  duty  on  tea.  The  British  ministry,  with  Governor  Hutchinson  and  his 
fellow-conspirators,  found  that  British  bayonets  were  powerless  against 
non-importation  agi-eements,  and  that  British  merchants  would  not  wil- 
lingly lose  their  American  commerce.  Yet  Lord  North,  with  singular 
fatuity,  while  making  this  second  surrender  to  the  spirit  of  the  "rebel" 
colonies,  said:  "A  total  repeal  cannot  hQ  \hong\ii  of  till  America  is  pros- 
trate at  our  feet"!  —  an  anomalous  position,  offering  terms  of  capitulation, 
and  in  the  same  breath  demanding  unconditional  submission! 

Mr.  Pownall,  who  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  colonies,  moved  for 
a  total  repeal.  "  If  it  be  asked,"  he  said,  "whether  it  will  remove  the 
apprehensions  excited  by  your  resolutions  and  addi-ess  of  the  last  year  for 
bringing  to  trial  in  England  persons  accused  of  treason  in  America,  I 
answer,  no.  If  it  be  asked,  if  this  commercial  concession  would  quiet  the 
minds  of  the  Americans  as  to  the  political  doubts  and  fears  which  have 
struck  them  to  the  heart  throughout  the  continent,  I  answer,  no.  So 
long  as  they  are  left  in  doubt  whether  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  whether 
the  Bill  of  Rights,  whether  the  Common  Law  as  now  existing  in  England, 
have  any  operation  and  effect  in  America,  they  cannot  be  satisfied.  At 
this  hour  they  know  not  whether  the  civil  constitutions  be  not  suspended 
and  superseded  by  the  establishment  of  a  military  force.  The  Americans 
think  they  have,  in  return  to  all  their  applications,  experienced  a  temper 
and  discipline  that  is  unfriendly;  that  the  enjoyment  and  exercise  of  the 
common  rights  of  freemen  have  been  refused  to  them.  Never,  with  these 
views,  will  they  solicit  the  favor  of  this  House ;  never  more  will  they  wish 
to  bring  before  Parliament  the  grievances  under  which  they  conceive 


190  editor's  prefatory  note. 

themselves  to  labor.  Deeply  as  tliey  feel,  they  suffer  and  endure  \vlth  a 
determined  and  alarming  silence.  For  their  liberty  they  are  under  no 
apprehensions.  It  was  first  planted  under  the  genius  of  the  constitution; 
it  has  grown  up  into  a  verdant  and  flourishing  tree;  and  should  any  severe 
strokes  be  aimed  at  the  branches,  and  fate  reduce  it  to  the  bare  stock,  it 
would  only  take  deeper  root,  and  spring  out  again  more  hardy  and  durable 
than  before.  They  trust  to  Providence,  and  wait  with  firmness  and  forti- 
tude the  issue." 

The  House  of  Representatives,  relying  on  the  Massachusetts  charter  as 
a  compact,  in  a  message  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchinson,  July  31, 1770, 
deny  that  "  even  his  Majesty  in  Council  has  any  constitutional  authority 
to  decide  any  controversies  whatever  that  arise  in  this  province,  except- 
ing only  such  matters  as  are  reserved  in  the  charter;"  and  they  "  are 
clearly  of  opinion  that  your  Honor  is  under  no  obligation  to  hold  the 
General  Court  at  Cambridge,  let  your  instructions  be  conceived  in  terms 
ever  so  peremptory,  inasmuch  as  it  is  inconsistent  and  injurious  to  the 
province."  They  quote  Mr.  Locke  on  civil  government,  in  the  matter  of 
prerogative,  that  the  people  have  "  reserved  that  ultimate  determination  to 
themselves  which  belongs  to  all  mankind  where  there  lies  no  appeal  on 
earth,  viz.,  to  judge  whether  they  have  just  cause  to  make  their  appeal  to 
Heaven."  They  add:  "  We  would  by  no  means  be  understood  to  suggest 
that  this  people  have  occasion  at  present  to  proceed  to  such  extremity." 
On  June  19th,  1771,  they  again  "  protest  against  all  such  doctrines,  prin- 
ciples, and  practices  as  tend  to  establish  either  ministerial  or  even  royal 
instructions  as  laws  within  the  province."  Hutchinson  replied  that  the 
charter  was  a  mere  grant  of  "  privileges  "  from  the  crown,  which  might 
be  cancelled  at  any  time,  and  that  he  must  act  in  conformity  to  his  "  in- 
structions "  or  not  at  all.  In  a  message  to  the  governor,  on  July  5th,  they 
say:  "We  know  of  no  commissioners  of  his  Majesty's  customs,  nor  of 
any  revenue  his  Majesty  has  a  right  to  establish  in  North  America;  we 
know  and  feel  a  tribute  levied  and  extorted  from  those  who,  if  they  have 
property,  have  a  right  to  the  absolute  disposal  of  it." 

The  apparent  lull  in  public  feeling  in  1770-72  alarmed  the  patriot  lead- 
ers; but  it  was  the  calm  before  a  storm.  The  sight  of  foreign  soldiery 
and  hostile  fleets  to  enforce  an  odious  despotism  from  another  land,  daily 
demonstrated  that  non-resistance  was  slavery.  The  capture  and  destruc- 
tion of  one  of  the  British  armed  revenue  vessels  whicli  lined  our  coasts  — 
the  Gaspee,  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  on  the  night  of  June  10th,  1772  — was 
the  first  overt  act  of  resistance,  and  the  people  said  Amen ! 


editor's  prefatory  note.  191 

It  would  be  difficult,  perhaps,  to  assign  to  any  one  specially  the  idea  of 
committees  of  correspondence  as  the  most  efficient  means  of  unity  and  of 
concert  of  action.  As  already  stated,^  Dr.  Mayhew  had,  in  1766,  sug- 
gested the  thought  to  Mr.  Otis.  Gordon  says  that  Mr.  Samuel  Adams 
visited  Mr.  James  Warren,  at  Plymouth,  to  confer  with  him  on  the  hest 
plan  for  counteracting  the  misrepresentations  of  Governor  Hutchinson 
that  the  discontented  were  a  mere  faction,  and  Mr.  Warren  proposed  the 
committees  of  con-espondence.  Mr.  Adams  was  pleased  with  it,  and  the 
machinery  was  put  in  operation  at  the  first  favorable  opportunity.  As 
the  government  and  defence  of  a  free  people  depend  upon  its  own  volun- 
tary support,  and  Governor  Hutchinson  refused  a  salary  from  the  province, 
and  accepted  it  of  the  crown,  the  General  Court  did  "  most  solemnly  pro- 
test that  the  innovation  is  an  important  change  of  the  constitution,  and 
exposes  the  province  to  a  despotic  administration  of  government." 

The  Boston  "  Committee  of  Correspondence,"  appointed  at  this  junc- 
ture "  to  state  the  rights  of  the  colonists  ...  as  men,  as  Christians, 
and  as  subjects;  to  communicate  and  publish  the  same  to  the  several 
towns  in  this  province,  and  to  the  world,"  made  their  report,  at  a  town 
meeting  in  Fancuil  Hall,  on  the  20th  of  November,  1772.  They  quote 
freely  from  "  Locke  on  Government,"  of  which  there  was  a  Boston  edi- 
tion published  soon  after.  They  declare  that,  "in  case  of  intolerable 
oppression,  civil  or  religious,  men  have  a  right  to  leave  the  society  they 
belong  to  and  enter  into  another."  That  in  religion  there  should  be 
mutual  tolez-ation  of  all  professions  "  whose  doctrines  are  not  subversiA'e 
of  society,"  —  a  principle  which  excludes  the  Papists,  for  they  teach  "  that 
princes  excommunicated  may  be  deposed,  and  those  they  call  heretics  may 
be  destroyed  without  mercy;  besides  their  recognizing  the  Pope  in  so 
absolute  a  manner,  in  subversion  of  government,  by  introducing,  as  far 
as  possible,  into  the  states  under  whose  protection  they  enjoy  life,  liberty, 
and  property,  that  solecism  in  politics,  Imperium  in  imperio,  leading  di- 
rectly to  the  worst  anarchy  and  confusion,  civil  discord,  war,  and  blood- 
shed. .  .  .  That  the  right  to  freedom  being  the  gift  of  God  Almightt, 
it  is  not  in  the  power  of  man  to  alienate  this  gift  and  voluntarily  become 
a  slave."  "  The  colonists,"  they  say,  "  have  been  branded  with  the  odious 
names  of  traitors  and  rebels  only  for  complaining  of  their  grievances. 
How  long  such  treatment  will  or  ought  to  be  borne,  is  submitted."  They  enu- 
merate, among  their  grievances,  the  revenue  acts,  the  presence  of  stand- 
ing armies  and  of  hosts  of  officers  for  their  enforcement;  the  rendering 

1  See  page  44. 


192 


tlie  governor,  judges,i  and  other  officers,  independent  of  the  people  by 
salaries  from  the  crown,  "  which  will,  if  accomplished,  complete  our 
slavery;  "  the  instructions  to  the  governor  whereby  he  "  is  made  merely 
a  ministerial  engine ; "  the  surrender  of  the  provincial  fortress,  Castle 
William,  to  the  troops,  beyond  the  provincial  control;  the  suspension  of 
the  New  York  Legislature  "  until  they  should  quarter  the  British  troops ; " 
'*  the  various  attempts  which  have  been  made,  and  are  now  made,  to 
establish  an  American  Episcopate,"  though  "  no  power  on  earth  can 
justly  give  either  temporal  or  spiritual  jurisdiction  within  this  province 
except  the  great  and  general  court.'"' 

The  report,  with  "  a  letter  of  correspondence,"  was  printed  and  sent  to 
"  the  selectmen  of  every  town  in  the  province."  It  was  like  the  match  to  a 
well-laid  train,  and  there  burst  forth  from  every  quarter  responses  of  such 
spirit  and  severity  against  "  these  mighty  grievances  and  intolerable 
wrongs,"  the  change  in  the  state  of  affairs  was  "  so  sudden  and  unex- 
pected," as  to  greatly  alarm  and  perplex  the  governor,  now  helpless  and 
friendless,  and  his  subsequent  controversies  with  the  House  only  tended 
to  strengthen  the  colonial  cause.  Virginia  approved  of  all  this ;  the  system 
of  correspondence  was  extended  to  the  colonies,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  union  which  resulted  in  the  general  congress  at  Philadelphia,  in 
September,  1774. 

The  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Boston  town-meetings  was  reprinted 
in  London  in  1773,  with  a  preface,  written  by  Dr.  Franklin,  to  expose  the 
misrepresentations  of  Lord  Dartmouth  and  the  ministry,  that  the  discon- 
tented were  only  a  faction,  and  to  show  that  the  true  causes  of  discontent 
might  be  well  understood.  This  greatly  irritated  the  ministry.  The 
discovery  and  publication,  in  1773,  of  the  confidential  letters  of  Oliver, 
Hutchinson,  and  other  "  government "  men,  exasperated  the  people  against 
the  authors.  Then  followed  the  destruction  of  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor, 
and  similar  conduct  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York;  and  the  sequence 
was,  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  which  recited  "  That  the  opposition  to  the 
authority  of  Parliament  had  always  originated  in  the  colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  that  the  colony  itself  had  ever  been  instigated  to  such 
conduct  by  the  seditious  proceedings  of  the  town  of  Boston."  It  de- 
stroyed the  commerce  of  the  port.  Many  were  distressed  for  the  neces- 
saries of  life;  but  the  act  operated  as  a  bond  of  sympathy  between  the 


1  "No  tyranny  so  secure,  none  so  intolerable,  none  so  dangerous,  none  so 
remediless,  as  that  of  executive  courts."  — Josta/t  Quincy,  Jr.,  1772. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  193 

colonies,  and  excited  a  feeling  of  brotherhood  and  union  against  England. 
General  Gage  arrived  at  Boston  May  13,  1774,  as  commander-in-chief 
of  the  king's  forces,  and  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  "  The  Episcopal 
clergy"  and  others  addressed  Governor  Hutchinson,  just  before  he  sailed 
for  England,  June  1st,  "  expressing  their  approbation  of  his  public  conduct, 
and  their  affectionate  wishes  for  his  prosperity,"  though  he  was  execrated 
by  all  others.  On  his  arrival  there  he  found  that  the  ministry  had 
adopted  the  policy  advised  in  his  letters  of  1768-9,  and  annulled  the 
charter,  as  to  the  executive  and  judicial  powers,  and  thus  he  saw  the  ruin 
of  his  country,  —  if  it  could  be  effected,  —  the  work  of  his  own  ingrati- 
tude and  selfish  ambition.  And,  as  if  intended  for  a  beacon,  and  an 
exemplar  to  the  other  colonies  of  the  animus  and  real  principles  of  their 
enemies,  another  act  established  in  Canada  the  Papal  Church  and  a  civil 
despotism  in  harmony  with  the  history  and  genius  of  that  hierarchy. 

In  one  of  their  letters,  the  patriots  say,  "  that  a  people  long  inured  to 
hardships  lose  by  degrees  the  very  notions  of  liberty;  they  look  upon 
themselves  as  creatures,  at  mercy,  and  that  all  impositions  laid  on  by 
superior  hands  are  legal  and  obligatory ;  so  debased  that  they  even  rejoice 
at  being  subject  to  the  caprice  and  arbitrary  power  of  a  tyrant,  and  kiss 
their  chains.  But,  thank  Heaven !  this  is  not  yet  verified  in  America.  We 
have  yet  some  share  of  public  virtue  remaining.  We  are  not  afraid  of 
poverty,  but  disdain  slavery.  The  fate  of  nations  is  so  precarious,  and 
revolutions  in  states  so  often  take  place  at  an  unexpected  moment,  when 
the  hand  of  power  has  secured  every  avenue  of  retreat,  and  the  mind  of 
the  subject  so  debased  to  its  purpose,  that  it  becomes  every  well-wisher 
to  his  country,  while  it  has  any  remains  of  freedom,  to  keep  an  eagle 
eye  upon  every  innovation  and  stretch  of  power  in  those  that  have  the 
rule  over  us.  .  .  .  Let  us  disappoint  the  men  who  are  raising  themselves 
on  the  ruin  of  this  country." 

The  rapid  course  of  events  in  1774  electrified  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  The 
arrogance  of  the  ministry,  and  the  severity  and  abruptness  of  their  acts  in 
Parliament,  were  met  by  a  spirit  of  stern  defiance,  and  there  swept  along 
the  Atlantic  shores  of  the  American  colonies  such  a  chorus  for  liberty  as 
was  never  heard  before  in  national  tragedy.  The  Provincial  Congress, 
—  representatives  of  freemen,  —  assembled  now,  not  by  virtue  of  paltry 
parchments  from  blasphemous  "sacred  Majesty,"  but  by  charter  from 
the  Almighty,  to  whom  they  make  solemn  appeal,  "assumes  every 
power  of  a  legal  government;  for"— says  General  Gage  — "their  edicts 
are  implicitly  obeyed  throughout  the  continent."    They  "resolve,"  and 

17 


194  editor's  prefatory  note. 

the  treasury  is  supplied;  to  their  call  for  "immediate  defence,"  minute- 
men,  armed  hosts,  come  with  alacrity  from  peaceful  life,  the  artisan  from 
his  shop,i  the  farmer  from  his  plough,  the  fisherman  from  his  shallop, 
the  laAvyer  from  his  brief,  the  merchant  from  his  ledger,  and  the  chaplain 
from  his  parish  — from  field  and  flood  they  profiler  all  for  liberty,  and  mat- 
ron and  maid,  with  eager  hands  and  hearts,  help  them  to  their  holy  duty. 

Dr.  Joseph  Warren  Avrotc  to  Josiah  Quincy  in  November,  1774 :  "  It  is 
the  united  voice  of  America  to  preserve  their  freedom,  or  lose  their  lives 
in  defence  of  it.  Their  resolutions  are  not  the  effects  of  inconsiderate 
rashness,  but  the  sound  result  of  sober  inquiry  and  deliberation.  I  am 
convinced  that  the  true  spiritof  liberty  was  never  so  universally  diffused 
throughout  all  ranks  and  orders  of  people,  in  any  country  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  as  it  now  is  through  all  North  America."  Of  the  state  docu- 
ments of  the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  Chatham,  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  said :  "  For  myself,  I  must  declare  and  avow,  that  in  all  my 
reading  and  observation,  —  I  have  read  Thucydides,  and  have  studied 
and  admired  the  master  states  of  the  world,  —  that  for  solidity  of  reason- 
ing, force  of  sagacity,  and  Avisdom  of  conclusion,  under  such  complication 
of  circumstances,  no  nation  or  body  of  men  can  stand  in  prefei'cnce  to 
the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia." 

The  Provincial  Congress,  assembled  at  the  meeting-house  in  Concord, 
October  13,  1774,  in  a  message  to  Governor  Gage,  signed  by  John  Han- 
cock, President,  said,  "  that  the  sole  end  of  government  is  protection  and 
security  of  the  people.  Whenever,  therefore,  that  power  which  was 
originally  instituted  to  effect  these  important   and  valuable  purposes  is 

1  The  Blacksmiths'  Convention  of  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  November 
8,  1774,  illustrates  the  fervid  determination  of  the  people.  They  resolved  that, 
"deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  our  duty  to  our  country,  paternal  affectiou 
for  our  children  and  unborn  millions,  as  also  for  our  personal  rights  and  lib- 
erties, we  solemnly  covenant  .  .  .  that  we  will  not  .  .  .  do  or  perform  any 
blacksmith's  work,  or  business  of  any  kind,  ....  for  any  person  or  persons 
....  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  tories,  .  .  .  mandamus  coun- 
sellors, ...  for  every  person  who  addressed  Governor  Hutchinson  at  his 
departure  from  this  province;  ...  all  of  whom  should  be  held  in  contempt, 
and  those  who  are  connected  with  them  ought  to  separate  from  them,  laborers 
to  shun  their  vineyards,  merchants,  husbandmen,  and  others,  to  withhold  their 
commerce  and  supplies."  This,  signed  by  forty-three  of  the  best  men,  with 
strong  arms  and  great  hearts,  Ross  Wyman,  of  Shrewsbury,  President,  and 
Timothy  Bigklow,  of  Worcester,  Clerk,  was  widely  distributed  in  handbills, 
and  publislied  in  the  newspapers. 

Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester,  chapters  vi.— ix.,  admirably  illustrates  the 
spirit  of  the  Revolution, 


195 


employed  to  harass,  distress,  or  enslave  the  people,  in  this  case  it  becomes 
a  curse  rather  than  a  blessinp^;  ....  and  we  request  that  you  imme- 
diately desist  from  the  fortress  now  constructing  at  the  south  entrance  into 
the  town  of  Boston,  and  restore  the  pass  to  its  natural  state."  To  which 
the  governor  answered:  "The  fortress,  unless  annoyed,  will  annoy  no- 
body; .  .  .  and  I  warn  you  of  the  rock  you  are  upon,  and  require  you 
to  desist  from  such  illegal  and  unconstitutional  proceedings." 

Letters  of  the  famous  tory  churchman,  Peters,  of  Connecticut,  were 
laid  on  the  President's  table.  One,  dated  September  28,  said :  "  Six 
regiments  are  coming  over  from  England,  and  sundry  men-of-war.  So 
soon  as  they  come,  hanging  work  will  go  on.    Destruction  will 

attend  first  the  seaport  towns The  lintel  sprinkled  on  the 

sidepost  will  preserve  the  faithful,"  i.  e.,  the  Episcopalians.  On  the  first 
of  October  he  wrote  to  Rev.  Dr.  Auchmuty,  of  New  York:  "The"  — 
Episcopal  —  "  churches  in  Connecticut  must  fall  a  sacrifice,  very  soon, 
to  the  rage  of  the  Puritan  mobility,  if  the  old  serpent,  that  dragon,  is  not 
bound.  .  .  .  Sphitual  iniquity  rides  in  high  places,  with  halberts, 
pistols,  and  swords.  See  the  proclamation  I  sent  you  by  my  nephew, 
on  their  pious  Sabbath  day,  the  fourth  of  last  month,  when  the  preachers 
and  magistrates  left  the  pulpit,  etc.,  for  the  gun  and  drum,  and  set  off  for 
Boston,  cursing  the  king  and  Lord  North,  General  Gage,  the  bishops  and 
their  cursed  curates,  and  the  Church  of  England." 

The  occasion  of  the  discourse  appears  in  the  following  "  Resolve  recom- 
mending to  the  people  of  this  province" —  Massachusetts  —  "  to  observe  a 
day  of  public  Thanksgiving  throughout  the  same,"  passed  by  the 
First  Provincial  Congress,  held  in  the  meeting-house,  at  Cambridge, 
October  22,  1774 : 

"  From  a  consideration  of  the  continuance  of  the  gospel  among  us,  and 
the  smiles  of  Divine  Providence  upon  us  with  regard  to  the  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  the  general  health  which  has  been  enjoyed;  and  in  particular, 
from  a  consideration  of  the  union  which  so  remarkably  prevails,  not  only 
in  this  province,  but  throughout  the  continent,  at  this  alarming  crisis,  it 
is  resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  Congress,  that  it  is  highly  proper  that  a 
day  of  public  thanksgiving  should  be  observed  throughout  this  province ; 
and  it  is  accordingly  recommended  to  the  several  religious  assemblies 
in  the  province,  that  Thursday,  the  fifteenth  day  of  December  next,  be 
observed  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  to  render  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for 
all  the  blessings  we  enjoy.  And,  at  the  same  time,  we  think  it  incumbent 
on  this  people  to  humble  themselves  before  God,  on  account  of  their  sins, 


196 


for  which  he  hath  been  pleased,  in  his  righteous  judgment,  to  suffer  so 
great  a  calamity  to  befall  us  as  the  present  controversy  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  colonies;  as  also  to  implore  the  Divine  blessing  upon 
us,  that,  by  the  assistance  of  his  grace,  we  may  be  enabled  to  reform 
whatever  is  amiss  among  us ;  that  so  God  may  be  pleased  to  continue  to 
us  the  blessings  we  enjoy,  and  remove  the  tokens  of  his  displeasure,  by 
causing  harmony  and  union  to  be  restored  between  Great  Britain  and 
these  colonies,  that  we  may  again  rejoice  in  the  smiles  of  our  sovereign, 
and  in  possession  of  those  privileges  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us, 
and  have  the  hopeful  prospect  that  they  shall  be  handed  down  entire 
to  posterity  under  the  Protestant  succession  in  the  illustrious  House  of 
Hanover.  JOHN  HANCOCK,  President." 

The  preacher,  Mr.  Gordon,  born  at  Hitchin,  in  England,  pastor  of  an 
Independent  church  at  Ipswich,  removed  to  America  in  1770,  and  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  Jamaica  Plain  Church,  in  Roxbury,  July  6,  1772. 
"  His  soul  was  engaged  in  "  the  American  cause.  He  was  chaplain  to  the 
Provincial  Congress;  and  several  sermons  on  public  occasions  during  the 
struggle  show  his  zeal  and  prudence  as  a  Son  of  Liberty.  He  improved 
his  excellent  opportunities  for  fulness  and  fidelity  in  his  "History  of 
the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Establishment  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America:  including  an  account  of  the  late  war,  and  of  the 
thirteen  colonies  from  their  origin  to  that  period,"  first  published  in 
1788,  —  a  candid  and  impartial  work,  of  which  there  have  been  several 
editions.  He  returned  to  England  in  1786,  and  died  at  Ipswich,  October 
19,  1807,  aged  77.  —  Allibone,  Allen. 

This  sermon  excited  the  indignation  of  "  the  king's  friends,"  one  of 
whom,  "  a  friend  to  peace  and  good  order,"  published  "  observations" 
upon  it  as  "daring  and  treasonable,  .  .  .  absurd  and  impertinent, 
.  .  .  a  firebrand  of  sedition,  .  .  .  audacious  and  wicked ; "  so  awful 
to  "every  honest  man,  every  virtuous  citizen,"  that  "  to  let  it  pass  disre- 
garded would  argue  an  inattention  to  the  welfare  of  the  public  wholly 
Inexcusable."  "  Where  could  this  reverend  politician,  .  .  clerical 
disclaimer,  .  .  Christian  sower  of  sedition,  .  .  notable  empiric, 
,  .  warfaring  priest,  .  .  ordained  leader,  .  .  this  church-militant 
general,  .  .  have  leanit  to  preach  up  doctrines  of  sedition,  rebellion, 
carnage,  and  blood?  Not,  I  am  sure,  from  the  merciful  divulger  of  his 
religion,  for  he  only  taught  the  precepts  of  peace  and  forgiveness.  .  .  . 
I  most  heartily  wish,  for  the  peace  of  America,  that  he  and  many  others 
of  his  profession  would  confine  themselves  to  gospel  truths." 


DISCOUllSE    lY 


A  THANKSGIVING  SERMON. 


IT  IS  OP    THE    LORD'S  MERCIES    THAT  WE   ARE  NOT   CONSUMED,  BECAUSE    HIS 

COMPASSIONS  FAIL  NOT.  —  Lam.  iii.  22. 


The  pulpit  is  devoted,  in  general,  to  more  important 
purposes  than  the  fate  of  kingdoms,  or  the  civil  rights  of 
human  nature,  being  intended  to  recover  men  from  the 
slavery  of  sin  and  Satan,  to  point  out  their  escape  from 
future  misery  through  faith  in  a  crucified  Jesus,  and  to 
assist  them  in  their  prepafations  for  an  eternal  blessed- 
ness. But  still  there  are  special  times  and  seasons  when 
it  may  treat  of  politics.  And,  surely,  if  it  is  allowable  for 
some  who  occupy  it,  by  preaching  up  the  doctrines  of 
non-resistance  and  passive  obedience,^  to  vilify  the  prin- 
ciples and  to  sap  the  foundations  of  that  glorious  revolu- 
tion that  exalted  the  House  of  Hanover  to  the  British 
throne,  it  ought  to  be  no  transgression  in  others,  nor  to 
be  construed  into  a  want  of  loyalty,  to  speak  consistently 
with  those  approved  tenets  that  have  made  George  the 
Third  the   first  of  European  sovereigns,  who   otherwise, 

1  The  publications  of  the  period  abound  in  such  finger-points  to  these 
"  missionaries,"  who  were  considered  as  simply  ecclesiastical  corps  of 
sappers  and  miners,  busy  among  the  people,  disguised  as  teachers  of  reli- 
gion, disseminating  doctrines  subversive  of  liberty,  and  who  were  secretly 
ill  heart  as  zealous  for  the  British  ministry  as  were  their  more  honorable 
brethren,  the  chaplains  of  the  mercenary  armies,  who  took  the  hazards  of 
open  war.    Perhaps  the  sacrifices  of  the  former  were  the  greater.  —  Ed. 

17* 


198  A    THANKSGIVING    SERMON, 

with  all  his  personal  virtues,  might  have  lived  an  obscure 
Elector. 

Having,  then,  the  past  morning  of  this  provincial 
thanksgiving,  accommodated  the  text  to  the  case  of  indi- 
viduals, I  shall  now  dedicate  it,  according  to  its  original 
intention,  to  the  service  of  the  public,  the  situation  of 
whose  aflfars  is  both  distressing  and  alarming. 

The  capital  of  the  colony  is  barbarously  treated,  pre- 
tendedly  for  a  crime,  but  actually  for  the  noble  stand  she 
has  made  in  favor  of  liberty  against  the  partisans  of  sla- 
very. She  has  distinguished  herself  by  her  animated  oppo- 
sition to  arbitrary  and  unconstitutional  proceedings,  and 
therefore  has  been  marked  out,  by  ministerial  vengeance,^ 


1  Official  insolence  and  ignorance  never  received  a  quicker  or  more  dig- 
nified rebuke  than  in  the  united  and  decisive  voice  of  the  colonies  for 
Boston  and  against  the  ministry.  In  the  debates  on  the  Boston  bills,  Col. 
Barre  said  to  the  ministry:  "You  point  all  your  revenge  at  Boston  alone; 
but  I  think  you  will  very  soon  have  the  rest  of  the  colonies  on  your  back." 
Salem  nobly  resented  and  refused  the  proffered  bribe  of  the  diverted  com- 
merce of  Boston  to  her  port.  The  newspapers  published  numerous  ac- 
knowledgments of  such  substantial  tokens  of  "  aid  and  comfort "  as  this : 
"  On  Tuesday  morning  last  came  to  town,"  —  Boston,  —  "  from  Marble- 
head,  eight  cart-loads  of  salt  fish ;  a  generous  donation  from  our  sympa- 
thizing brethren  of  that  small  town." 

The  people  of  Massachusetts  refusing  any  supplies  for  the  British 
troops.  Gen.  Gage  sent  a  vessel  to  Baltimore  for  a  load  of  flour,  for 
blankets,  etc.,  but  "the  committee  of  correspondence  of  that  place  re- 
fused to  furnish  any  of  the  articles  until  they  heard  from  the  General  Con- 
gress, where  they  had  sent  an  express  to  receive  directions  how  they 
should  act  on  the  occasion;"  yet  that  same  committee  were  then  freely 
contributing  to  the  necessities  of  the  Boston  patriots.  Poor  Gage's  sup- 
plies from  England  and  elsewhere  were  intercepted  and  captured  by 
"Yankee"  privateers,  and  he  was  often  reduced  to  predatory  incursions. 

A  letter  from  Alexandria,  Virginia,  of  July  6th,  1774,  said :  "  All  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland  are  contributing  for  the  relief  of  Boston, —  of  those 
who,  by  the  late  cruel  act  of  Parliament,  are  deprived  of  their  daily 
labor  and  bread,  —  to  prevent  the  inhabitants  sinking  under  the  oppres- 
sion, or  migrating,  to  keep  up  that  manly  spirit  that  has  made  them  dear 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  199 

to  be  made  an  example  of,  whereby  to  terrify  other  Amer- 
ican cities  into  a  tame  submission.  She  is  an  example, 
and,  thanks  to  Heaven !  an  example  of  patience  and  forti- 

to  every  American."  Enclosed  was  a  list  of  the  cargo  of  "Schooner 
Nassau,"  —  corn,  flour,  wheat,  etc., —  "consigned  to  the  Hon.  John  Han- 
cock and  James  Bowdoin,  Esqrs.,  Mr.  Samuel  Adams,  Isaac  Smith,  Esq., 
and  the  Gentlemen  Committee  "  of  Boston,  for  distribution.  The  "  Ga- 
zette," which  published  this  letter,  says :  "  Every  part  of  this  extensive 
continent,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  heard,  appears  to  be  deeply  interested  in 
the  fate  of  this  unhappy  town.  Many  and  great  are  the  donations  we 
have  already  received,  and  many  more  we  have  good  reason  to  expect." 
The  same  paper  contains  "  Resolutions  unanimously  entered  into  by  the 
Inhabitants  of  South  Carolina,  at  a  General  Meeting  held  at  Charlestown," 
in  July,  1774,  which  declare  "  that  not  only  the  dictates  of  humanity,  but 
the  soundest  principles  of  true  policy  and  self-preservation,  make  it 
necessary  for  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  in  America  to  assist  and 
support  the  people  of  Boston." 

Now  was  to  be  realized  the  splendid  thought  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew's 
"  Lord's-day  Morning  "  meditations  i  —  "  a  communion  of  the  colonies." 
*'  Letters  of  friendship  and  regard  —  a  desire  to  cement  and  perpetuate 
union  among  ourselves  "  — flew  like  winged  messengers  of  love  from  col- 
ony to  colony,  and  from  heart  to  heart;  and  on  the  seventh  of  October, 
1774,  George  III.  saw,  not  Boston  and  Massachusetts  crushed  beneath  his 
German  foot,  not  the  fratricidal  discord  of  base  men  in  sordid  haste  to 
fatten  upon  the  ruin  of  sister  colonies  despoiled  by  despotism,  —  for  so 
low  was  his  avowed  policy,  and  so  brutal  the  hope  of  his  kingly  breast ; 
but,  thank  God !  there  was  too  little  of  Oxford  "  obedience,"  and  too  few 
of  its  minions  in  America,  for  such  thrift;  — he  saw  not  that,  but  a  Conti- 
nental Congress  in  session  at  Philadelphia,  composed  of  "  the  representa- 
tives of  his  Majesty's  faithful  subjects  in  all  the  colonies  from  Nova  Sco- 
tia to  Georgia" — a  new  power  in  the  world.  Their  committee  —  Thomas 
Lynch,  of  South  Carolina,  Samuel  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Edmund 
Pendleton,  of  Virginia  —  prepared  a  letter  to  Gen.  Gage,  representing  "  that 
the  town  of  Boston  and  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  are  considered  by 
all  America  as  suffering  in  the  common  cause  for  their  noble  and  spirited 
opposition  to  oppressive  acts  of  Parliament,  calculated  to  deprive  us  of 
our  most  sacred  rights  and  privileges,"  and  remonstrating  against  his 
hostile  military  pi-eparations  in  that  town.  His  Majesty  called  them 
"  rebels,"  and  they  soon  declared  and  proved  themselves  to  be  neither 
subjects  nor  rebels,  but  a  free  people.  —  Ed. 

1  See  his  letter  on  pages  44,  45. 


200 


tilde,  to  the  no  small  mortification  of  her  enemies,  whose 
own  base  feelings  led  them  to  imagine  that  she  would 
immediately  become  an  abject  supplicant  for  royal  favor, 
though  at  the  expense  of  natural  and  chartered  rights. 
May  some  future  historian,  the  friend  of  mankind  and 
citizen  of  the  world,  have  to  record  in  his  faithful  and 
ever-living  page  that  she  never  truckled,  though  British 
sailors  and  soldiers,  contrary  to  their  natural  affection  for 
the  cause  of  liberty,  were  basely  employed  to  intimidate 
her,  but  i3erseveringly  held  out  through  the  fiery  trial  till 
a  revolution  of  men  and  measures  brought  on  her  deliver- 
ance! 

But  it  is  not  the  capital  alone  that  suffers.  The  late 
venal  Parliament,  in  compliance  with  the  directions  of 
administration,  have,  under  the  false  color  of  regulating 
the  government  of  the  colony,  mutilated  its  charter,  and 
conveyed  dangerous  powers  to  individuals  for  the  enforc- 
ing and  maintaining  those  encroachments  that  they  have 
A'entured,  in  defiance  of  common  equity,  to  make  upon  the 
righta  of  a  free  people ;  and  had  not  the  calmness  and 
prudence  of  others  supplied  their  lack  of  wisdom,  the 
country  might  by  this  time  have  become  an  Aceldama.*^ 

a  I  take  this  opportunity  of  making  mv  public  acknowledgments  to  his  Excel- 
lency the  governor  for  not  having  precipitated  the  country  into  a  civil  war  —  au 
event  wliich,  as  appears  by  his  letter,!  he  ardently  wishes  may  never  exist. 
Should  the  continent  be  exercised  with  so  great  an  evil,  I  promise  myself,  from 
the  known  humanity—  the  constant  attendant  of  true  bravery —  the  known  hu- 
manity of  the  British  officers  and  troops,  that  they  will  not  add  barbarity  to 
the  unavoidable  calamities  of  war.  But  should  any  hellish  policy  order  its  being 
done,  the  colonies,  't  is  to  be  supposed,  will  dread  all  less  than  slavery  to  those 
cruel  masters  that  can  issue  such  savage  edicts. 

1  General  Gaj^e,  in  his  reply  of  October  20th,  1774,  to  the  letter  of  the 
Continental  Congress  just  cited,  wrote:  "I  ardently  wish  that  the  com- 
mon enemies  to  both  countries  may  see,  to  their  disappointment,  that 
these  disputes  between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies  have  termi- 
nated like  the  quarrels  of  lovers,  and  increased  the  affection  which  they 
ouj-ht  to  bear  to  each  other."  —  Ed. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  201 

Upon  the  principles  which  tlie  British  Legislature  have 
adopted,  in  their  late  extraordinary  proceedings,  I  see  not 
how  we  can  be  certain  of  any  one  privilege,  nor  what  hin- 
ders our  being  really  in  a  state  of  slavery  to  an  aggregate 
of  masters,  whose  tyranny  may  be  worse  than  that  of  a 
single  despot ;  nor  that  a  man  can  with  propriety  say  his 
soul  is  his  own,  and  not  the  spring  to  move  his  bodily 
machine  in  the  performance  of  whatever  drudgery  his 
lords  may  appoint;  nor  that  the  public  have  a  permanent 
and  valuable  constitution.  If  the  British  Legislature  is  the 
constitution,  or  superior  to  the  constitution,  Magna  Charta, 
the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  the  Protestant  Succession,  these 
boasts  of  Britons  are  toys  to  please  the  vulgar,  and  not 
solid  securities. 

The  operation  of  the  late  unconstitutional  acts  of  the 
British  Parliament  would  not  only  deprive  the  colony  of 
invaluable  privileges,  but  introduce  a  train  of  evils  little 
expected  by  the  generality,  and  give  the  British  ministry 
such  an  ascendency  in  all  public  aflfairs  as  would  be  to  the 
last  dangerous.* 

a  In  support  of  this  paragraph  I  shall  quote  the  follo-n-ing  passages  from  the 
protest  of  the  Lords  agaiust  the  regulating  act,  viz.  : 

"  The  new  constitution  of  judicature  provided  by  this  bill  is  improper  and 
incongruous  with  the  plan  of  the  administration  of  justice  in  Great  Britain. 

"  The  Governor  and  Council,  thus  instituted  with  powers  with  which  the  British 
constitution  has  not  trusted  his  Majesty  and  his  privy-council,  have  the  means 
of  returning  such  a  jury  in. each  particular  cause  as  may  best  suit  with  the  grati- 
fication of  their  passions  and  interests.  The  lives,  liberties,  and  properties  of  the 
subject  are  put  into  their  hands  without  control,  and  the  invaluable  right  of 
trial  by  jury  is  turned  into  a  snare  for  the  people,  who  have  hitherto  looked  upon 
it  as  their  main  security  against  the  licentiousness  of  power. 

"  We  see  in  this  bill  the  same  scheme  of  strengthening  the  authority  of  the 
officers  and  ministers  of  state,  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
subject,  which  was  indicated  by  the  inauspicious  act  for  shutting  up  the  harbor 
of  Boston. 

"  By  that  act,  which  is  immediately  connected  with  this  bill,  the  example  was 
set  of  a  large,  important  city  (containing  vast  multitudes  of  people,  many  of 
whom  must  be  innocent,  and  all  of  whom  are  unheard),  by  an  arbitrary  sentence, 
deprived  of  the  advantage  of  that  port  upon  which  all  their  means  of  livelihood 
did  immediately  depend. 

"This  proscription  is  not  made  determinable  on  the  payment  of  a  fine  for  an 


202 


The  spirited  behavior  of  the  country,  under  these  inno- 
vations, has  charmed  and  affrighted  numbers,  and,  should 


offence,  or  a  compensation  for  an  injury,  but  is  to  continue  until  the  ministers  of 
the  crown  shall  think  fit  to  advise  the  king  in  council  to  revoke  it. 

"  The  legal  condition  of  the  subject  (standing  unattainted  by  conviction  for 
treason  or  felony)  ought  never  to  depend  upon  the  arbitrary  -will  of  any  person 
whatsoever." 

I  would  add,  also,  the  clause  in  the  regulating  act  respecting  .town  meetings  i 
leaves  it  in  the  power  of  a  governor  to  prevent  them  all  at  pleasure,  those  only 
excepted  for  the  choice  of  town  officers  in  March,  and  for  the  choice  of  repre- 
sentatives. Neither  the  most  trifling  nor  the  most  important  business  can  be 
legally  transacted,  so  as  to  be  binding  upon  the  inhabitants,  even  in  the  most 
distant  towns  of  the  government,  without  leave  first  had  and  obtained  of  the 
governor,  in  writing,  expressing  such  special  business,  though  it  should  happen 
that  if  not  done  within  less  time  than  necessary  for  the  obtaining  of  that  leave 
it  cannot  be  done  at  all.  The  townsmen  can  neither  lay  out  a  new  road  nor 
raise  moneys  for  mending  an  old  one,  nor  can  they  settle  a  minister,  without 
obtaining  the  express  written  leave  of  the  governor.  Yea,  they  are  forbid  so 
much  as  to  talk;  for  they  are  not  to  treat  of  any  other  matter  at  their  March 
meeting  except  the  election  of  their  officers,  nor  at  any  other  meeting  except  the 
business  expressed  in  the  leave  given  by  the  governor,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the 
lieutenant-governor.  If  this  is  not  to  establish  slavery  bj^  legislative  authority, 
I  beg  to  know  what  is.  The  arbitrary  mandates  of  the  grand  monarch,  enjoin- 
ing his  slaves  silence  when  state  affairs  are  disagreeable  to  the  public,  will  scarce 
be  thought  by  many  so  great  an  attack  upon  the  rights  of  mankind,  as  an  at- 
tempt to  perpetuate  something  of  the  like  nature  by  a  permanent  law.  Should 
the  favorite  of  a  governor  have  embezzled  the  town's  money,  how  shall  a  meet- 
ing be  obtained  to  vote  and  order  a  prosecution  against  him?  Should  a  candi- 
date be  reported  as  a  warm  friend  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  how  shall  leave 
be  had  for  his  being  settled,  though  unanimously  approved  of  and  admired? 
Should  an  oppressed  town  be  desirous  of  stating  its  grievances  and  praying  a 
redress,  how  shall  the  inhabitants  do  it  in  a  corporate  capacity,  should  the  com- 
mander-in-chief be  prejudiced  against  them?  Should  the  electors  be  inclined  to 
instruct  their  representatives  upon  matters  of  the  highest  concern  to  them,  how 
shall  they  do  it  without  violating  the  law,  when  the  ruler's  interest  prevents  his 
giving  them  leave?  A  thousand  other  events  are  made  to  depend  upon  the  arbi- 
trary will  of  a  governor  by  the  clause  before  us.  And  why  are  all  the  towns 
of  the  colony  to  be  reduced  to  such  a  slavish  dependence?  Because,  as  the  Brit- 
ish legislative  asserts,  "  a  great  abuse  has  been  made  of  calling  town  meetings, 
and  fhe  inhabitants  have,  contrary  to  the  design  of  their  institution,  been  misled 
to  treat  upon  matters  of  the  most  general  concern,  and  to  pass  many  dangerous 
and  unwarrantable  resolves."  Oh,  abominable! —that  a  people  should  be  de- 
prived of  their  precious  and  long-enjoyed  liberties,  not  for  any  wilfully  perverse 
known  crime,  but  because  of  their  being  foolishly  misled.  Why  did  not  tlie  wise 
ministry  ease  themselves  of  the  opposition  given  them  by  the  city  of  London,  by 

1  The  towns  were  so  many  commonwealths,  petty  democracies,  and  the 
British  ministers  could  not  have  adopted  any  device  which  Avould  more 
keenly  touch  the  people  than  this  interference  with  their  wonted  assem- 
blies. —  Ed. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  203 

it  be  continued  with  prudence,  unremitted  zeal,  and  true 
fortitude,  will  produce  monuments  of  praise,  more  lasting 
than  brass,  even  though  it  should  not  prove  successful, 
which  is  scarce  supposable. 

The  distresses  that  the  late  acts  have  already  occa- 
sioned are  many  and  great,  and  too  well  known  to  require 
an  enumeration;  and  yet,  could  we  be  secure  of  a  speedy 
relief  in  the  pennanent  redress  of  our  grievances,  we 
should  soon  forget  them.  But  we  have  our  fears  lest  they 
should  be  only  the  beginning  of  sorrows,  and  are  in  doubt 
whether  we  may  not  be  called  to  experience  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  war,  unless  we  will  disgrace  our  descent,  meanly 
submit  to  the  loss  of  our  privileges,  and  leave  to  posterity 
—  the  many  millions  that  shall  people  this  continent  in 
less  than  a  century  —  bonds  and  fetters. 

The  important  day  is  now  arrived  that  must  determine 
whether  we  shall  remain  free,  or,  alas!  be  brought  into 
bondage,  after  having  long  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  liberty. 
The  event  will  probably  be  such  as  is  our  own  conduct. 
"Will  we  conform  to  the  once  exploded  but  again  courtly 
doctrines  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance,  rather 
than  hazard  life  and  property  —  we  may  have  the  honor 
of  burninor  under  the  heats  of  summer  and  freezin^c  under 
the  colds  of  winter  in  providing  for  the  luxurious  entertain- 
ment of  lazy,  proud,  worthless  pensioners  and  placemen.^ 


a  like  regulation  of  their  charter,  upon  the  ground  of  the  citizens  having  been 
misled?  Why  do  they  not,  upon  the  same  ground,  prevent  all  corporation  and 
county  meetings  in  Great  Britain,  that  so  they  may  not  be  pestered  with  any 
future  petitions  or  remonstrances?  But,  should  the  operation  of  the  regulating 
act  be  secured,  who  can  tell  how  long  it  will  be  ere  the  British  legislative  will 
assign  the  solid  reason  of  having  been  misled  to  treat  upon  matters  of  the  most 
general  concern,  and  to  pass  many  dangerous  and  unwarrantable  resolves  for 
suspending  all  the  American  assemblies,  or,  at  least,  for  reducing  the  members 
of  each  to  the  more  convenient  number  of  the  Yorkers? 

I  decline,  as  wholly  unnecessary,  all  remarks  upon  the  miscalled  act  for  the 
impartial  administration  of  justice,  etc. 

a  There  are  some  honorable  exceptions  to  this  general  intimation,  but  they  are 

0 


204  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON, 

Will  we  make  our  appeal  to  Heaven  against  the  in- 
tended oppression  —  venture  all  upon  the  noble  principles 
that  brought  the  House  of  Hanover  into  the  possession  of 
the  British  diadem,  and  not  fear  to  bleed  freely  in  the 
cause,  not  of  a  particular  people,  but  of  mankind  in  gen- 
eral —  we  shall  be  likely  to  transmit  to  future  generations, 
though  the  country  should  be  wasted  by  the  sword,  the 
most  essential  part  of  the  fair  patrimony  received  from 
our  brave  and  hardy  progenitors  —  the  right  of  possessing 
and  of  disposing  of,  at  our  own  option,  the  honest  fruits 
of  our  industry.  However,  it  is  alarming  to  think  that, 
through  the  mistaken  policy  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  ab- 
surd notion  of  persisting  in  wrong  measures  for  the  honor 
of  government,  we  may  be  obliged  to  pass  through  those 
difficulties,  and  to  behold  those  scenes,  and  engage  in 
those  services  that  are  shocking  to  humanity,  and  would 
be  intolerable  but  for  the  hope  of  preserving  and  perpet- 
uating onr  liberties.     Our   trade   ruined,  our   plantations 


so  few  that  they  can  save  themselves  only,  and  not  the  list,  from  deserved  re- 
proach. 

In  the  year  1697  the  pensions  amounted  only  to  seven  thousand  and  seventy- 
seven  pounds  sterling,  but  in  the  year  1705  they  amounted  to  eighteen  thousand 
one  hundred  and  eleven  pounds.  Since  then  they  have  increased  to  a  most 
enormous  sum.  A  late  publication  informs  us  that  about  ten  years  back  there 
was  a  million  of  debt  contracted  on  the  sixpence  per  pound  tax  laid  on  pensions. 
Tlie  interest  of  a  million  at  four  per  cent,  being  forty  thousand  pounds  per  an- 
num, the  pensions,  to  have  answered  for  it,  must  have  amounted  to  one  million 
six  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum;  if  at  three  per  cent.,  to  one  million 
two  hundred  tliousand.  There  might,  possibly,  have  been  a  deficiency  in  this 
fun^;  but  it  cannot  be  thought  that  the  financier  would  have  proposed  it  had  it 
been  very  considerably  deiicient. 

I  heartily  wisli  that  some  who  have  leisure,  and  can  procure  the  necessary 
materials,  w-ould  inform  the  public,  as  near  as  possible,  what  sums  are  exhausted 
by  places  and  pensions.  As  to  the  numerous  expenditures  in  the  secret  services 
of  rewards,  bribery  and  corruption,  jobs  and  contracts,  they  must  remain  among 
the  arcana  imperii.  But,  were  a  virtuous,  patriotic  administration  to  close  all 
those  unnecessary  drains  whereby  the  wealth  of  Great  Britain  is  carried  off,  they 
would,  in  a  few  years  of  peace,  greatly  reduce  the  national  debt,  and  have  no 
temptation  to  gull  the  people  under  a  pretence  of  easing  them  by  American 
taxes,  when  they  design  only  to  provide  for  their  numerous  dependents,  and  to 
increase  the  power  of  the  crown,  alias  the  ministry. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  205 

trodden  down,  our  cattle  slain  or  taken" away,  our  property 
plundered,  our  dwellings  in  flames,  our  families  insulted 
and  abused,  our  friends  and  relatives  wallowing  and  our 
own  garments  rolled  in  blood,  are  calamities  that  we  are 
not  accustomed  to,  and  that  we  cannot  realize  but  with 
the  utmost  pain  ;  and  yet  we  must  expect  more  or  less  of 
these  should  we  be  compelled  to  betake  ourselves  to  the 
sword  in  behalf  of  our  rights.  It  is  not  a  little  grievous 
to  be  alarmed  with  the  apprehension  of  such  severe  trials, 
unless  we  will  in  our  conduct  resemble  those  simple  ones 
that,  for  the  sake  of  indulging  themselves  in  present  ease 
and  plenty,  barter  away  their  w^hole  interest  in  future  hap- 
piness.* 

But,  though  the  situation  of  our  public  affairs  is  both 
distressing  and  alarming,  it  is  by  far  better  than  we  have 
deserved  from  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  ;  it  would 
have  been  much  worse  had  we  been  dealt  with  according 
to  our  demerits.  "  It  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are 
not  consumed ;  because  his  compassions  fail  not."  Some 
may,  at  first  hearing,  object  against  this,  as  being  too  strong 
an  expression,  and  may  think,  considering  the  morals  of  the 
people  when  compared  with  the  inhabitants  of  other  places, 
that  it  is  misapplied.  I  am  ready  to  allow  that  the  morals 
of  this  people,  taken  collectively,  are  superior  to  those  of 
other  places,  —  Connecticut  excepted,  where,  I  suppose, 
they  are  nearly  the  same,  —  whether  in  the  New  or  the 
Old  World,  all  things  considered  ;  and  I  cannot  but  view 


a  It  may  be  objected  that  the  points  in  dispute  are  too  trifling  to  justify  the 
hazard  of  such  severe  trials.  It  will  be  answered  that  it  is  the  principles  the  con- 
tinent is  opposing  in  its  attempts  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  precedents. 
The  real  dispute  is,  whether  the  long-enjoyed  constitution  of  these  American 
colonies,  when  they  are  not  consenting  to  it,  shall  be  liable  to  every  alteration 
that  a  legislative  three  thousand  miles  off  shall  think  convenient  and  profitable 
to  tiiemselves,  and  whether  a  House  of  Commons  at  that  distance,  to  which  they 
neither  do  nor  can  send  a  single  representative,  shall  dispose  of  their  property 
at  pleasure.     Obstaprincipiis. 

18 


206 


as  a  strong  proof  hereof  the  order  that  prevails  through 
the  country  now  that  the  execution  of  the  laws,  because 
of  the  peculiarity  of  the  times,  is  suspended.  ^  And  yet, 
after  all,  I  must  hold  to  the  text ;  and,  that  we  may  be 
fully  convinced,  and  be  duly  affected  with  the  truth  of  it, 
shall  make  some  remarks  upon  this  people  considered  as 
the  subjects  of  God's  moral  government. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  I  remark,  that  the  prevalency  of 
any  vices  and  immoralities  among  this  people  must  be 
peculiarly  provoking. 

Circumstances  aggravate  or  alleviate  the  crimes  of  soci- 
eties no  less  than  of  single  persons ;  and  far  more  and 
other  is  expected  from  some  than  from  many  others  in  a 
very  different  situation  and  condition. 

1  The  ministry  sought  not  only  "  to  beggar  the  colonies  into  submis- 
sion" by  ruinous  restraints  on  trade,  but  to  reduce  them  to  anarchy  by 
paralyzing  their  governments,  whose  life  was  supposed  to  emanate  from 
the  crown,  and  then  necessity  would  compel  submission ;  but  the  I'esult 
astonished  all.  New  governments  sprang  directly  from  the  people,  and 
the  people  obeyed.  "  Obedience  is  what  makes  government,"  said  Burke, 
commenting  on  this  phenomenon,  "  and  not  the  names  by  which  it  is 
called;  not  the  name  of  governor,  as  formerly,  or  committee,  as  at  pres- 
ent. .  .  .  We  wholly  abrogated  the  ancient  government  of  Massachu- 
setts. We  were  confident  that  the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very  prospect  of 
anarchy,  would  instantly  enforce  a  complete  submission.  The  experiment 
was  tried.  A  new,  strange,  unexpected  face  of  things  appeared.  An- 
archy is  found  tolerable.  A  vast  province  has  now  subsisted,  and  sub- 
sisted in  a  considerable  degree  of  health  and  vigor,  for  nearly  a  twelve- 
month, without  governor,  without  public  council,  without  judges,  without 
executive  magistrates.  ...  In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much  at  home  by 
this  loosening  of  all  ties,  and  this  concussion  of  all  established  opinions,  as 
we  do  abroad.  For,  in  order  to  prove  that  the  Americans  have  no  right 
to  their  liberties,  we  are  every  day  endeavoring  to  subvert  the  maxims 
which  preserve  the  whole  spirit  of  our  own.  To  prove  that  the  Americans 
ought  not  to  be  free,  we  are  obliged  to  depreciate  the  value  of  freedom 
itself;  and  we  never  seem  to  gain  a  paltry  advantage  over  them  in  debate 
without  attacking  some  of  those  principles,  or  deriding  some  of  those  feel- 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  207 

Now,  it  should  be  remembered  that  this  is  but  a  young 
people,  not  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old ;  for  they  were 
not  a  people  for  the  few  first  years  of  their  settlement  in 
this  wilderness  —  no  more  than  a  small  company,  who  must 
have  soon  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  native  Indians  had 
not  God  interposed.  Their  youth  is  an  aggravation  to  the 
crimes  committed  by  them.  For  a  young  person  to  be 
given  to  vice,  though  he  has  a  corrupted  nature  the  same 
as  others,  is  highly  offensive :  we  look  for  a  decent,  modest, 
and  orderly  behavior  in  him. 

In  like  manner  a  young  state  should  be  pure  in  its 
morals ;  should  be  addicted  to  no  particular  vices ;  should 
observe  the  utmost  regularity  of  behavior,  and  should  not 
even  think  of,  much  less  practise,  the  crimes  too  generally 
to  be  met  with  in  countries  of  long  standing,  when  at- 
tained to  their  height  in  power  and  affluence.  There  is 
an  utter  unfitness  in  the  former's  attempting  to  imitate  the 
latter.  Can  we  say  that  this  rising  young  state  is  clear  as 
to  this  matter;  that  it  has  not  copied  the  corrupt  manners 
of  its  aged  parent ;  and  that  it  hath  not  its  particular  vices 
that  are  a  reproach  to  it  ?  However  willing  we  may  be, 
through  self-love  and  native  fondness,  to  apologize  for  it, 
we  cannot  conscientiously  pronounce  it  not  guilty  while 
we  know  how  notorious  intemperance,  uncleanness,  luxury, 
and  irrelig^ion  are  amonor  us. 

But  another  thing  that  makes  the  vices  and  immoralities 
of  this  people  peculiarly  provoking  is,  their  descent  and 
education.  The  sins  of  a  youth  descended  from  pious 
parents,  who  has  had  good  examples  set  him,  and  who  has 
been  carefully  educated,  are  worse  than  those  of  a  common 
youth  that  has  not  enjoyed  such  advantages. 

Now,  the  ancestors  of  this  people  were  eminently  godly ; 
it  was  the  strength  of  their  zeal  for  true,  unadulterated 
religion,  and  the  ardor  of  their  love  to  God  and  Christ, 


208  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON, 

that  prevailed  upon  them  to  venture  over  the  great  deep, 
and  to  seek  an  abode  in  this  then  inhospitable  and  danger- 
ous country,  and  that  reconciled  them  to  the  numberless 
difficulties  that  they  had  long  to  encounter  without  ever 
attaining  to  the  various  comforts  that  we  enjoy.  They 
w^ere  concerned  to  perpetuate  the  same  spirit  of  piety 
which  they  were  actuated  by ;  paid  great  attention  to  the 
rising  generation,  and  wisely  provided  for  the  good  instruc- 
tion of  succeeding  ones.  Wherein  can  we  charge  them 
with  want  either  of  wisdom  or  faithfulness  to  posterity? 
Do  we  not  still  reap  the  fruits  of  their  contrivance  and 
foresight,  though  not  in  so  ample  a  manner  as  might  be, 
through  our  own  faultiness  ?  Judge  ye,  what  could  have 
been  done  more  through  their  instrumentality  for  this  part 
of  the  Lord's  vineyard  than  what  has  been  done  ?  Where- 
fore, then,  hath  it  brought  forth  so  many  wild  and  bad 
grapes,  when  it  should  have  yielded  the  choicest  fruit? 
Is  not  this  peoi:)le  strangely  degenerated,  so  as  to  possess 
but  a  faint  resemblance  of  that  godliness  for  which  their 
forefathers  were  eminent?  And  could  these  last  appear 
for  a  while  again  in  this  colony,  with  the  common  passions 
and  sentiments  of  human  nature,  would  they  not  stand 
amazed  at  the  sinfulness  of  the  present  generation,  and 
be  ready  to  disown  them  for  their  posterity?  Is  it  not 
another  generation  of  professors,  very  different  both  as  to 
sentiments  and  practice  from  that  which,  by  tlieir  emigra- 
tions for  conscience'  sake,  first  planted  the  gospel  in  New 
England  ?  Would  not  the  like  zeal  for  the  leading  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  and  the  like  strictness  in  morals  that 
prevailed  in  the  first  settlers,  be  severely  censured  and  be 
stigmatized  by  some  reproachful  epithet,  as  in  their  day, 
by  the  generality  among  us,  though  through  the  spirit  of 
the  times  the  persecution  might  not  be  more  than  that  of 
the  tongue?     They  that  will  divest  themselves  of  preju- 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  209 

dice,  and  judge  impartially,  will  be  obliged,  I  apprehend, 
to  acknowledge  that  this  people  do  not  answer  to  the  hon- 
orableness  of  their  descent,  any  more  than  to  the  care  that 
was  taken  by  their  predecessors  for  their  being  well  edu- 
cated in  the  principles  and  practices  of  religion;  the  full 
benefit  of  which  care  though  they  may  not  enjoy,  through 
the  censurable  faultiness  of  some  in  neglecting  their  duty, 
yet  is  so  far  enjoyed  as  that  people  in  general,  including 
all  ranks,  are  not  better  instructed  and  educated  anywhere, 
it  is  probable,  than  in  this  country.  But  certainly  the 
more  honorable  their  religious  descent,  and  the  better  their 
education,  the  more  provoking  must  their  vices  and  immo- 
ralities be ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  worthy  of  their  par- 
ticular consideration,  especially  in  these  threatening  times, 
than  those  words  in  Amos  iii.  2,  wherein  the  Lord  ad- 
dresses the  children  of  Israel,  saying :  "  You  only  have  I 
known  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth  ;  therefore  I  will 
punish  you  for  all  your  iniquities."  I  might  add  more 
particulars  to  this  first  remark,  but  choose  to  make  them 
distinct  ones  of  themselves. 

II.  I  therefore  proceed  to  mention,  in  the  second  place, 
that  the  obligations  this  people  are  under  to  holiness  are 
special,  from  the  many  appearances  of  God  in  their  favor, 
and  his  having  so  multiplied  and  exalted  them. 

How  oft  has  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe 
wonderfully,  next  to  miraculously,  interposed  for  their 
deliverance  when  in  the  utmost  danger!  Their  enemies 
expected  to  swallow  them  up,  and  were  upon  the  point 
of  doing  it,  when  Providence  hath  critically  interposed,  so 
that  they  have  escaped  like  a  bird  out  of  a  snare  that  has 
been  thrown  over  it.  When  their  eagerness  to  cooperate 
with  the  parent  state,  in  reducing  the  power  of  the  com- 
mon enemy,  led  them  into  a  bold  and  dangerous  enter- 
prise, in  which,  if  they  had  miscarried,  they  would  have 

18* 


210  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON, 

been  subject  to  an  almost  irreparable  damage,  and  which 
must  have  miscarried,  according  to  the  usual  course  of 
human  and  military  affairs,  had  not  special  events,  carry- 
ing in  them  the  evident  marks  of  providential  appoint- 
ment,^ though  in  the  account  of  the  unbeliever  purely 
casual,  —  I  say,  which  must  have  miscarried  had  not  special 
events  turned  up,  —  it  pleased  God  to  order  the  existence 
of  them,  and,  by  crowning  the  expedition  with  success,  not 
only  to  avert  the  train  of  evils  that  must  otherwise  have 
followed,  but  to  give  this  people,  then  indeed  in  their  in- 
fancy, a  NAME^  among  the  warlike  veteran  states  of  Europe, 
and  to  show  the  world  what  a  few  raw  provincials  could 
do,  under  the  smiles  and  care  of  Heaven,  against  fortifica- 
tions and  batteries  really  strong,  and  defended  by  regulars, 
though  not  by  Britons.  May  they  never  lose  that  name,  nor 
blast  the  laurels  gained  at  Louisburg  by  any  future  cow- 
ardly conduct,  when  it  is  not  conquest,  but  liberty  and 
property,  that  are  at  stake  ! 

God  hath  not  only  appeared  for  this  people,  but  hath 
greatly  multiplied  and  exalted  them.  They  were  at  first 
a  few  men  in  number,  yea,  very  few,  and  strangers  in  the 
land.  They  came  from  a  well-cultivated  kingdom  to  a 
savage  people  and  a  wild  country,  enough  to  discourage 
the  stoutest.     However,  they  ventured  to   take   up  their 


1  The  French  ship  Vigilant,  of  sixty-four  guns,  and  six  hundred  men, 
when  within  two  hours'  sail  of  Louisburg,  Cape  Breton,  May  19th,  was  led 
off  in  pursuit  of  smaller  craft,  and  captured.  Her  arrival  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  enterprise.  The  New  England  men,  being  in  want  of  balls,  were 
supplied  by  those  sent  by  the  French  guns,  which  they  put  into  their  own 
cannon,  and  fired  back  again.  —  Prince's  Thanksgiving  Sermon,  1745;  Par- 
sons's  Life  of  Sir  Wm.  Pcpperell,  Bart. —  Ed. 

2  Perhaps  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  in  1745,  as  a  proof  of  the  military 
prowess  of  New  England,  may  be  taken  as  the  point  of  time  when  the 
colonies  became  conscious  of  their  strength,  and  when  England  became 
jealous  of  their  dependence.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  211 

abode  in  it,  and,  through  the  original  blessing  of  Heaven 
upon  them,  which,  perhaps,  never  displayed  itself  and 
wrought  more  effectually,  except  in  the  instance  of  the 
Jews,  they  are  become  a  considerable  nation,^  possess  a 
tolerable  share  of  wealth,  and  would  enjoy  much  public 
happiness  were  the  painful  disputes  between  them  and  the 
parent  country  comfortably  terminated.  The  face  of  the 
colony  is  not  less  changed  for  the  better  since  first  settled 
than  what  is  set  forth  in  the  language  of  Isaiah's  prophecy: 
"The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad;  the 
desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  It  shall  blos- 
som abundantly,  and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing; 
the  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it ;  the  excel- 
lency of  Carmel  and  Sharon.  They  shall  see  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  excellency  of  our  God."*  These  enumer- 
ated are  special  obligations  on  this  people  to  holiness.  But 
does  their  holiness  correspond  with  them  ?  Are  the  fruits 
yielded  by  them  suited  to  such  benefits?  Are  they  that 
manner  of  people  that  might  have  been  expected,  and  that 
they  engaged  to  be  when  under  difiiculties,  and  in  great 
perplexity  through  threatening  appearances  ?  —  or  have 
they  not,  like  the  Jews  of  old,  after  singing  the  divine 
praises,  forgot  the  works  of  God  and  the  wonders  he  hath 
showed  them  ?  And  hath  not  the  cast  of  their  after-con- 
duct evidenced  that,  in  renewing  their  engagements  with 


ft  Isaiah  xxxv.  1,  2. 

1  An  estimate,  made  in 

1775,  by  the  American  Congress : 

state. 

People. 

state. 

People. 

Massachusetts,  . 

.    400,000 

Pennsylvania,  . 

.    350,000 

New  Hampshire,    . 

150,000 

Maryland, 

320,000 

Rhode  Island,    . 

.      59,678 

Virginia,    . 

.    650,000 

Connecticut,  . 

192,000 

North  Carolina,     . 

300,000 

New  York, 

.    250,000 

South  Carolina, 

.    225,000 

New  Jersey,  . 

130,000 

Total,  . 

.     3,020,078 

Ed. 


212 


him  in  the  day  of  their  affliction,  "they  did  flatter  him  with 
their  mouth,  and  Ued  unto  him  with  their  tongues ;  and 
that  their  heart  was  not  right  with  him  ; "  for  "  they  have 
not  been  steadfast  in  his  covenant,"  have  not  walked  agree- 
able to  the  design  and  purport  of  God's  covenant  of  grace, 
with  wliich  they  have  in  much  mercy  been  made  ac- 
quainted. 

III.  I  shall  now  remark,  in  the  third  and  last  place,  that 
though  the  appearances  of  religion  among  this  people  are 
great  and  many,  yet  it  is  to  be  feared  that  real  religion  is 
scarce,  that  the  power  of  godliness  is  rare,  and  that  while 
there  is  much  outward  show  of  respect  to  the  Deity,  there 
is  but  little  inward  heart  conformity  to  him. 

Individuals  are  justly  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  an  excep- 
tion, notwithstanding  which  it  may  be  applied  with  too 
much  truth  to  the  community  as  a  body,  "This  people 
draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth,  and  honoreth 
me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me."  ^  What 
is  religion,  with  the  generality,  more  than  being  baptized, 
attending  public  worship  statedly  on  the  Lord's  day,  own- 
ing the  covenant,  coming  to  the  Lord's  table,  and  then 
being  orderly  in  the  outward  deportment  ?  If,  besides  all 
now  mentioned,  there  is  a  strict  attendance  upon  private 
prayer,  and  the  further  addition  of  family,  though  the 
prayers  shall  consist  of  nothing  more  than  the  repeating 
of  a  certain  set  of  words  that  the  tongue  has  been  habitu- 
ated to,  the  goodness  of  such  religion  must  not  be  ques- 
tioned, though  not  proceeding  from  a  work  of  regenera- 
tion, not  produced  originally  by  any  special  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  not  accompanied  with  any  saving  illumi- 
nations from  above,  with  any  spiritual  view  of  the  divine 
glories,  any  true  hatred  to  sin,  any  sense  of  the  beauty  of 
holiness,  any  soul-sanctifying  love  to  God  and  the  Lord 

a  Matthew  xv.  8. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  213 

Jesus.  Is  there  not  a  great  though  uuhappy  affinity  be- 
tween the  case  of  this  people,  religiously  considered,  and 
that  of  the  Laodicean  church,  as  described  by  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  in  Revelation  iii.  15 — 18? 

The  above  remarks  upon  this  people,  considered  as  the 
subjects  of  God's  moral  government,  being  duly  weighed, 
shall  we  not  be  brought  to  own  with  humility  and  grati- 
tude that  it  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  con- 
sumed, because  his  compassions  fail  not?  As  yet  we  are 
not  consumed. 

Though,  when  we  look  down  from  the  adjoining  hills, 
and  behold  the  capital,  we  cannot  but  lament,  saying, 
"  How  is  the  gold  become  dim !  how  is  the  most  fine  gold 
changed!  how  does  her  port  mourn,  because  her  shipping 
come  not  .to  her  as  formerly;  all  her  wharves  are  deso- 
late ;  how  is  she  possessed  and  surrounded  by  an  armed 
force,  as  though  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy !  —  yet,  blessed 
be  God,  she  doth  not  sit  solitary ;  she  is  full  of  people ; 
she  is  honorable  among  the  nations ;  she  is  as  a  princess 
among  the  provinces,  seeing  that  she  hath  not  meanly 
become  tributary.  She  weepeth  sore  in  the  night,  and 
her  tears  are  on  her  cheeks ;  but,  like  beaut}"  in  distress, 
she  is  the  more  engaging.  She  hath  many  lovers  to  com- 
fort her,  and  her  friends  have  not  dealt  treacherously  with 
her,  so  far  from  having  become  her  enemies.  Her  inhabit- 
ants are  suffering,  but  not  starving.  Her  priests  and  her 
elders  have  not  given  up  the  ghost  while  seeking  meat 
to  relieve  their  soul.  The  tongue  of  the  sucking  child 
cleaveth  not  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth  for  thirst.  The 
young  children  ask  not  bread  without  any  man's  offering 
to  break  it  unto  them.  We  see  not  her  dwellings  and 
public  buildings,  both  civil  and  sacred,  in  flames,  and  the 
whole  becoming,  by  a  speedy  destruction,  a  horrid  heap 
of  ruins." 


214  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON, 

Though,  when  we  survey  the  country,  we  bemoan  the 
attempts  that  have  been  made  upon  the  ancient  founda- 
tions of  its  civil  government,  which,  if  successful,  will  in  all 
probability,  after  a  time,  undermine  and  destroy  its  reli- 
gious liberties ;  yet  we  are  thankful  that  no  dwelling  has 
been  destroyed,  —  that  none  of  any  party  have  as  yet 
perished  by  the  shocks  they  have  occasioned  in  the  state, 
—  that  the  sword  hath  not  been  commissioned  by  Heaven 
to  destroy,  and  the  way  to  an  accommodation  been  ren- 
dered still  more  inaccessible  through  the  shedding  of 
blood.  We  adore  the  goodness  of  God,  which  has  kept 
us  from  being  consumed  by  the  ravages  of  war.  It  is 
of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  consumed,  because 
his  compassions  fail  not.  And  much  more  so  that,  in  the 
distressing  and  alarming  situation  of  our  public  affiiirs, 
there  have  been  so  many  favorable  circumstances  to  pre- 
serve us  from  fainting,  to  hearten  us  up,  and  to  encourage 
our  hopes  in  expecting  that  we  shall  at  length,  in  the 
exercise  of  prudence,  fortitude,  and  piety,  get  well  through 
our  difficulties. 

Here  allow  me  to  run  through  a  brief  summary  of  these 
favorable  circumstances,  composed  of  the  following  par- 
ticulars :  The  rising  and  growing  consistency  of  sentiments 
in  the  friends  of  liberty,  which  hath  led  one  assembly  and 
another  on  this  continent  to  attempt  i3reventing  the  fur- 
ther introduction  of  slaves^  among  them,  though  herein 

1  One  of  the  articles  of  the  "  American  Association,"  formed  by  the 
Congi-ess  at  Philadelphia,  in  September,  pledged  entire  abstinence  from 
the  slave  trade,  and  from  any  trade  with  those  concerned  in  it.  The  pre- 
vailing sentiment  was  expressed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  original  draft  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence:  "Determined  to  keep  open  a  market 
■where  men  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  "  —  George  III.  —  "  has  pros- 
tituted his  negative  for  suppressing  every  legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or 
restrain  this  execrable  commerce."  On  the  ministerial  plan  to  excite  a 
slave  insurrection,  Mr.  Burke  said,  1774 :  "An  offer  of  freedom  from  Eng- 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  215 

they  have  been  counteracted  by  governors,  and  which 
tlie  American  Congress  has  with  so  much  wisdom  and 
justice  adopted ;  the  increasing  acquaintance  with  the 
rights  of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion,  as  belonging 
equally  alike  to  men  of  all  parties  and  denominations, 
while  they  conduct  as  good  members  of  civil  society,  with- 
out endeavoring  to  injure  their  neighbors  of  different  or 
opposite  sentiments  ;  the  blundering  policy  of  the  British 
ministry  in  giving  so  cruel  a  cast  to  the  Boston  Port  Bill, 
taking  away  by  it  private  property,  and  subjecting  its  res- 
titution to  the  pleasure  of  the  sovereign  ;  in  following  that 
so  hastily  with  other  acts,  equally  unjust  and  more  exten- 
sively pernicious,  affecting  the  whole  colony,  and  built 
upon  principles  and  claims  that  rendered  every  dwelling, 
plantation,  and  right  through  the  continent  precarious, 
dependent  on  the  will  of  the  Parliament,  or,  rather,  of  the 
junto  or  individual  that  hath  the  power  of  managing  it ; 
in  declaring  openly,  while  supporting  the  bills,  that  their 
design  was  not  against  a  single  town  or  colony,  but  against 
all  America ;  in  presuming  that  the  other  towns  and  colo- 
nies, upon  receiving  the  dreadful  news,  would  turn  pale 
and  tremble,  conceal  their  spirit  of  resentment  and  oppo- 
sition in  sneaking  professions  of  tame  submission,  and 
abandon  the  distressed,  though  their  own  ruin  must  have 
followed  upon  it,  however  slowly ;  and,  upon  such  pre- 
sumption, neglecting  to  divide  in  time  the  different  colo- 
nies by  flattering  promises  suited  to  their  several  situa- 
tions, and  by  secret  purchases,  ere  they  could  form  a 
general  union ;  the  reestablishment  of  arbitrary  power  and 


land  would  come  rather  oddl v,  shipped  to  them  "  —  the  slaves  —  "  in  an 
African  vessel,  which  is  refused  an  entry  into  the  ports  of  Virginia  or  Carolina 
with  a  cargo  of  three  Angola  negroes.  It  would  be  curious  to  see  the  Guinea 
captain  attemptinj^  at  the  same  instant  to  publish  his  proclamation  of  lib- 
erty and  to  advertise  his  sale  of  slaves." — Ed. 


216 


a  despotic  government  in  a  most  extensive  and  purposely- 
enlarged  country,^  contrary  to  the  royal  declaration  given 
a  few  years  before,  qualified  somewhat  to  the  inhabitants 
by  that  formal  security  of  their  religious  liberty  which 
was  noways  wanting,  but,  as  is  generally,  I  fear  justly 
taught,  with  the  base,  diabolical  design  of  procuring  tlieir 
assistance,  if  required,  in  quelling  the  spirit  of  freedom 
among  the  natural  and  loyal  subjects  of  Great  Britain;* 


a  I  have  no  objection  to  the  Canadians  being  fully  secured  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  religion,  however  erroneous  and  auti-Christiau  it  may  appear  to  me  as  a 
Protestant,  but  to  the  British  legislative's  not  having  given  a  universal  estab- 
lishment to  the  rights  of  conscience  among  them.  The  rights  of  conscience  are 
too  sacred  for  any  civil  power  on  earth  to  interdict,  wherein  they  produce  not 
overt  acts  against  the  necessary  and  essential  rights  of  civil  society.  I  say  neces- 
sary and  essential,  to  guard  against  the  reasonings  of  interested,  designing  priests 
of  every  denomination,  who  are  for  forming  unnatural  alliances  between  church 
and  .state,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  and  the  sword  of  the  magistrate.  Arguments 
drawn  from  the  ancient  Jewish  theocracy  are  of  no  avail  till  the  existence  of  a 
Christian  theocracy  is  proved,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  words  of  our  great 
Leader,  who  has  said,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 

Should  the  necessity  of  our  affairs  convene  another  congress,  hope,  among 
other  things,  it  will  be  agreed  upon,  as  the  proper  solid  basis  for  the  firmest  and 
most  extensive  union,  that  every  colony  should  retain,  while  the  majority  of  it 
are  so  pleased,  whatever  is  its  prevailing  form  of  religion,  and  admit  of  a  uni- 
versal toleration  to  all  other  persuasions,  whether  professors  of  Christianity  or 
not. 

'Twas  a  special  pleasure  to  me,  on  my  first  arrival  in  America  [in  1770], 
among  the  friendly  Philadelphians,  to  observe  how  Papists,  Episcopalians,  Mo- 
ravians, Lutherans,  Calvinists,  3Iethodists,  and  Quakers,  could  pass  each  other 
peaceably  and  in  good  temper  on  tlie  Sabbath,  after  having  broke  up  their  re- 
spective assemblies,  which  I  could  not  but  take  notice  of  in  an  early  letter  to  my 
native  country. 

It  may  be  said  that,  notwithstanding  this  apparent  regard  for  the  rights  of 
conscience,  I  am  really  unfriendly  to  them  unless  I  will  admit  of  an  American 
episcopate.  Though  some  may  be  prejudiced  against  it  from  the  fibbing,  ran- 
corous, and  abusive  opposition  that  certain  D.D.'s  are  continually  making  to 
measures  for  preserving  the  civil  rights  of  this  continent  (whose  conduct  I  can 
easily  account  for,  and  who  have  doubtless  received  intelligence,  as  well  as  my- 
self, that  the  design  of  sending  a  bishop  to  America,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will 
permit,  is  certainly  kept  in  view,  and  that is  intended  for  the  see;  and  men 

1  This  was  one  of  the  "  causes  "  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence: "  For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighbor- 
ing province,  establisliing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging 
its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  iiistrument  for 
introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these  colonies." — Ed. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  217 

the  speedy  arrival  of  the  Port  Bill  in  the  common  way  of 
conveyance,  whereby  some  diliiculties  were  avoided  and 
some  advantages  enjoyed,  wliile  administration  was  not  so 
merciful  as  to  attemjit  giving  us  the  earliest  intelligence 


■whose  ambitious  hopes  of  a  deanery,  arch-deaconship,  or  crosier,  are  likely  to 
be  disappointed  bj  the  public  manoeuvres  in  favor  of  liberty,  will  be  out  of 
humor,  and  should  be  patiently  borne  with,  though  they  vent  their  spleen  against 
liberty  itself),  yet  the  rights  of  Episcopalians  are  not  thereby  forfeited,  and 
whenever  the  majority  of  them,  laity  included  (and  not  a  few  of  the  leading 
clergy,  who  are  for  more  homage  than  the  present  equality  admits),  are  desirous 
of  an  American  episcopate,  and  will  see  to  its  being  with  security  that  the  bishop 
and  every  other  dignitary  shall  be  confined  purely  to  spiritual  matters,  shall 
have  no  more  rule  in  civil  concerns  than  the  parochial  priest,  shall  be  maintained 
by  no  kind  of  tax,  but  by  voluntary  contributions,  or  from  legacies  given  a 
full  year  before  the  death  of  a  testator  when  coming  out  of  a  real  estate,  and 
shall  be  deprived  of  all  power  to  injure  or  interrupt  other  denominations,  let 
them  be  gratified.  It  Avill  have  a  good  effect,  and  will  prevent  our  young  men's 
making  a  trip  to  England  for  orders,  which  generally  proves  dangerous  to  their 
love  of  freedom.  But  it  will  be  long  enough  ere  some  who  have  been  arduously 
laboring  to  establish  a  Protestant  American  episcopate  will,  with  all  their  con- 
scientious attachment  to  and  zeal  for  it,  agree  to  its  existence  in  this  ;Xew  "World 
upon  such  equitable  conditions,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  little  attention  paid 
to  what  Lord  Sterling  mentioned  to  them  at  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  Amboy. 
As  to  the  civil  establishment  given  to  the  Canadians  by  the  Quebec  Bill,i  the 
slavery  of  it  has  been  admirably  exposed  in  the  address  of  the  Congress;  and  yet, 
was  it  a  fact  that  the  body  of  the  French  inhabitants  preferred  it  to  every  other 
form,  I  am  of  Lord  Littleton's  opinion,  that  they  should  have  it  while  they  re- 
quested it.  We  have  reason,  however,  to  believe  that  the  mode  of  trial  by  juries 
was  desired  by  the  bulk  of  the  people,  and  that  it  was  taken  away  to  gratify  the 
petty  noblesse  of  the  country,  who  were  for  enjoying,  as  when  under  France,  the 
power  of  oppressing  their  inferiors.  But,  surely,  care  ought  to  have  been  taken, 
by  provisos  in  the  act,  that  Britons  should  not  have  been  shut  out  from  settling 
in  a  country  for  the  conquest  of  which  they  did  and  do  contribute,  without  giv- 
ing up  their  liberties  and  commencing  slaves;  and  that  a  British  gentleman, 
were  he  pleased  to  make  the  tour  of  Canada,  might  not  be  exposed  to  an  impris- 
onment by  a  lettre  de  cachet  from  a  governor  in  consequence  of  secret  instruc- 
tions from  home,  should  he  have  unhappily  fallen  under  the  high  displeasure  of 
a  British  ministry. 

1  The  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  the  year  1744,  on  the  Bill 
for  the  Government  of  Quebec,  were  not  given  to  the  public  till  1839,  when 
they  were  edited  and  published  by  Mr.  "Wright  from  manuscript  notes 
of  Sir  Henry  Cavendish,  Bart.,  M.  P.  They  justify  the  worst  apprehen- 
sions of  our  fathers,  and  demonstrate  the  servile  and  unmanly  spirit  of 
the  thirteenth  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  — May  17G8  to  June  1774  — 
perhaps  the  worst  in  British  history.  The  splendor  of  the  great  names  in 
it  —  friends  to  law  and  liberty  —  only  sets  forth  in  stronger  light  the  wick- 
edness of  the  government  and  its  tools.  —  Ed. 

19 


218 


of  what  had  been  done;  its  arrival  at  Boston,  Xew  York, 
and  Virginia  nearly  at  the  same  time ;  the  firmness  that 
the  Bostoniaus  showed  upon  the  occasion;  tlie  indigna- 
tion with  which  it  was  received,  as  the  news  flew  through 
the  continent;  the  sj^irited  behavior^  of  the  noble  Vir- 
ginian Assembly,*  whereby  they  hastened  their  own  disso- 
lution; the  accounts  from  different  places  and  colonies 
forwarded  to  the  capital  for  her  encouragement  under  her 
distress,  and  to  assure  her  of  assistance  and  support,  and 
that  they  considered  hers  in  the  true  light  of  a  common 
cause  —  not  in  consequence  of,  but  ere  they  had  received 
her  applications  for  advice  and  direction,  with  the  state  of 
her  situation ;  the  forwardness  which  showed  itself  every- 
where to  contribute  to  her  relief,  and  to  adopt  measures 
that  mio-ht  in  the  issue  recover  and  secure  the  liberties 
of  this  and  the  other  colonies ;  the  surprising  agreement 


a  Many  political  iriinisterial  •vrriters  have,  with  a  malicious  cunning,  attributed 
to  Massachusetts  more  merit  in  opposing  the  attempts  against  American  rights 
than  it  is  entitled  to.  The  Episcopal  colon j' 2  of  Virginia  bravely  led  in  the 
movements  at  the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  was  the  first  that,  by  their  assem- 
bly, declared  against  the  Boston  Port  Bill  in  the  strongest  terms  of  an  honest 
indignation. 

1  They  resolved  to  keep  June  1st  —  the  day  when  the  Port  Bill  was  to 
take  effect  —  in  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer.  On  this  the  governor 
dissolved  them;  but,  before  separating,  they  proposed  an  annual  congress 
of  the  colonies,  and  declared  that  an  attack  on  one  colony  was  an  attack 
on  all,  and  demanded  "  the  united  wisdom  of  the  whole."  See  page  193. 
—  Ed. 

2  At  this  time  Virginia  cotild  hardly  be  considered  as  in  fact  an  Episco- 
pal colony.  Baptist  missionary  communities  from  New  England  had 
imdermined  the  Established  Church,  so  that  fully  two-tliirds  of  the  people 
Avere  dissenters.  Patrick  Henry  became  illustrious  as  their  advocate,  and 
]\Ir.  Jefferson  received  his  first  clear  conceptions  of  a  free  civil  constitution 
from  the  practical  exhibition  of  religious  liberty  and  equality  in  a  Baptist 
church  in  his  neighborhood.  The  power  of  "  lords  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral "  had  been  already  overturned  in  Virginia  by  the  verdict  in  the 
famous  tobacco  case,  making  the  colonial  law  supreme.  —  Curtis's  Prog- 
ress of  Baptist  Principles,  pp.  49-.'52,  354-57.     1857.  — Ed. 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  219 

in  opinion  that  has  prevailed  in  persons  at  a  great  distance 
from  each  other  while  consulting  for  the  general  good, 
whereby  they  have  been  led  to  transmit  by  letters  nearly 
the  same  proposals  to  each  other  as  though  the  inspiration 
of  the  Most  High  gave  them  the  like  understanding ;  the 
fixing  upon  a  general  congress,  and  choosing  delegates, 
although  in  several  places  governmental  chicanery  was 
used  to  prevent  it ;  the  tender,  compassionate  feelings 
that  every  delegate,  of  whatsoever  denomination,  without 
party  distinctions,  discovered  for  the  Bostonians,  under 
the  free  and  affecting  prayer  of  a  worthy  Episcopalian,'* 
w^hen,  at  the  opening  of  the  congress,  they  had  been 
alarmed  with  the  filse  rumor  that  Boston  had  been 
attacked  by  the  military  and  navy ;  the  amazing  conse- 
quences that  this  false  alarm  did,  and  continues  to  pro-, 
duce.  It  j^roved  the  means  of  showing  that  the  colonists 
were  not  to  be  intimidated,  though  martial  appearances 
were  to  terminate  in  actual  hostilities;  that  they  would 
be  volunteers  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  and  that  they 
meant  not  to  avoid  fighting,  whenever  it  became  neces- 
sary. It  put  many  thousands  upon  boldly  taking  them- 
selves to  arms,  and  marching  forward,  as  they  apprehended, 
to  the  assistance  of  their  oppressed  fellow-subjects.  It 
kindled  a  martial  spirit,  that  has  spread  through  various 

a  The  Eev.  Mr.  Duche.l 

1  The  Rev.  Jacoh  Duche,  an  Episcopal  clergyman  of  Philadelphia,  of 
brilliant  talents,  distingnished  by  making  the  prayer  at  the  opening  of  the 
first  congress  at  Philadelphia.  He  was  Invited  to  oflSiclate,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Adams.  Mr.  John  Adams  wrote  to  his  wife:  "Mr.  Duche 
unexpectedly  struck  out  into  an  extemporary  prayer,  which  filled  the 
bosom  of  every  man  present."  He  was  opposed  to  independence,  and 
wrote  to  Washington  proposing  his  resignation  of  the  command  of  the 
army.  "Washington  transmitted  the  letter  to  Congress,  and  Mr.  Duche 
found  it  well  to  leave  for  England,  in  1776.  He  died  in  January,  1798,  aged 
about  sixtv.  —  Allen's  Biog.  Diet.  —  Ed. 


220  A  THANKSGIVING   SERMON, 

colonies,  and  put  the  inhabitants  upon  perfecting  them- 
selves in  the  military  exercise,  that  so  they  may  be  early 
prepared  for  the  worst.  To  that  it  has  been  owing,  in  a 
great  measure,  that  the  continent  has  put  on  such  a  war- 
like appearance  ;  that  companies  have  been  formed,  and 
are  continually  training,  as  far  down  as  to  and  even  in 
Virginia,  if  not  further;*  and  that  they  will  be  better 
prepared  than  was  ever  before  the  case  to  repel  all  inva- 
sions that  may  be  made  upon  their  natural  and  constitu- 
tional rights,  even  though  supported  by  a  British  army. 
Should  British  officers  and  troops  wrongly  imagine  that 
their  commissions  and  oaths  oblige  them  to  act,  though  in 
opposition  to  those  very  principles  of  the  constitution  that 
supports  them  and  empowers  the  king  to  give  them  their 
commissions,  instead  of  recollecting  that  all  obligations 
entered  into  must  necessarily  be  attended  with  this  pro- 
viso, that  they  are  not  contrary  to  and  subversive  of  the 
constitution,  and  that  it  is  a  reverence  for  and  love  to  the 
constitution  that  distinguishes  the  soldier  from  the  mer- 
cenary,—  still,  they  would  have  no  inclination  to  fight 
with  fellow-subjects  whose  only  fault  was  an  excessive 
love  of  freedom,  and  a  fixed  determination  not  to  submit 
to  what  they  really  believed  were  designed  attacks  upon 
their  most  precious  liberties.  In  such  circumstances,  may 
we  not  hope  that  the  former  would  rather  wish  to  escape 
with  honor  than  to  disgrace  themselves  with  conquest, 
and  that  the  men  of  might  will  not  find  their  hands? 
But  sliould  it  be  otherwise,  and  their  native  bravery  be 
sacrificed  in  support  of  a  bad  cause,  yet  it  might  be  too 
hard  a  task  for  them  to  subdue  their  brethren  when  fight- 
ing, ^9ro  arts  et  focis^  for  all  that  is  dear,  and  who  almost 
universally  excel  in  the  art  of  striking  a  mark,  by  which 

a  We  are  informed  of  the  like  in  South  Carolina. 


PREACHED    DECEMBER    15,  1774.  221 

the  waste  of  ammunition  will  be  greatly  prevented.'^  The 
want  of  field  artillery^  will  not  be  much  nor  long  felt 
under  a  commander  that  has  skill  to  avoid  being  attacked, 
and  to  choose  his  ground  for  attacking,  in  a  country  with 
which  he  is  perfectly  acquainted,  and  where  every  inhabi- 
tant, even  the  children,  are  standing  spies  upon  all  the 
motions  of  an  adversary.  But,  as  I  earnestly  beg  of  Heaven 
that  the  redress  of  our  grievances  may  be  obtained  without 
fighting,  I  shall  not  dwell  longer  upon  this  point,  and 
proceed  to  mention  those  other  favorable  circumstances, 
of  a  pacific  kind,  that  remain  to  be  specified,  —  such  as  the 
generous  donations  made  for  the  poor  of  Boston ;  ^  the 
union  of  the  colonies ;  the  prevailing  harmony  and  una- 


a  Mr.  Knoch,  then  lieutenant  in  the  first  regiment  of  Orange-Nassau,  in  a  trea- 
tise on  "  The  Insutficiency  of  Fire-arms  for  Attack  or  Defence,  demonstrated  from 
Facts,"  etc.,  written  in  about  1759,  proves  ''that,  at  a  medium  taken  from  any 
number  of  battles  fought  somewhat  before  that  period,  not  more  than  one  man 
could  have  been  killed  or  wounded  by  eighty  shot  discharged." 3 

1  Four  cannon  constituted  the  whole  train  of  artillery  of  the  British 
colonies  in  North  America  at  the  opening  of  the  war,  April  19,  1775;  two 
of  which,  belonging  to  the  province  of  Massachusetts,  were  taken  by  the 
enemy.  The  other  two  were  the  property  of  citizens  of  Boston.  They 
were  constantly  in  service  through  the  war.  In  1788,  by  order  of  Con- 
gress, they  were  delivered  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  John  Han- 
cock. On  one  was  inscribed,  "  The  Hancock,  —  sacred  to  Liberty;  "  and  on 
the  other,  "The  Adams."— Holmes's  Annals,  ii.  369.  — Ed. 

2  The  Continental  Congress  resolved,  September  17,  1774,  that  all  the 
colonies  ought  to  continue  their  contributions  for  "  the  distresses  of  our 
brethren  at  Boston,  so  long  as  their  occasions  may  require;  "  and,  October 
8th,  that  "  all  America  ought  to  support  Massachusetts  in  their  opposition 
to  the  late  acts  of  Parliament."  —  Ed. 

3  "  This  reverend  gentleman  has  found  a  method  of  doing  without  much 
ammunition;  for  certain  it  is  that  there  is  at  present  no  appearance  of 
great  quantities,  and  much  less  prospect  of  procuring  more  in  future.  How 
marvellous  is  sacerdotal  invention,  when  set  to  work!  .  .  .  What 
American  has  experience  enough  to  cope  with"  —  General  Gage — "a 
commander-in-chief,  bred  an  officer,  and  highly  distinguished?  .  .  .  . 
Where  could  he  possibly  have  acquired  his  knowledge?  .  .  .  Not  in  a 
review  before  a  governor;     .     .     .    not  by  turn-out  every  now  and  then, 

19* 


222 


nimity  among  the  individuals  composing  the  grand  con- 
gress ;  their  approbation  of  the  opposition  given  by  this 
colony  to  the  acts  for  altering  their  ancient  form  of  gov- 
ernment; their  association  respecting  trade,  and  the  like  ;^ 
the  readiness  of  the  people  to  conform  to  it ;  and  the 
intrepid  conduct  of  the  southern  inhabitants  in  preventing 
the  introduction  of  any  more  teas  among  them.  These  are 
favorable  circumstances,  beyond  what  the  most  sanguine 
friends  of  liberty  expected ;  that  appear  to  be  of  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  are  marvellous  in  our  eyes;  that,  if 
foretold,  would  have  been  deemed  morally  impossible  by 
those  who  are  still  inimical  to  them,  though  evidencing  a 
wonderful  interposition  of  Providence  ;  and  that  may  justly 
encourage  us,  as  well  as  keep  us  from  fainting,  especially 
when  taken  in  connection  with  that  spirit  of  prayer  and 
humiliation  which  has  discovered  itself  in  different  places 
on  occasion  of  the  times.  Would  to  God  there  was  more 
of  this !  Did  it  abound  universally,  we  should  have  greater 
ground  of  encouragement  by  much  ;  for  the  fervent  prayers 
of  the  humble,  penitent,  and  returning  avail  with  God, 
through  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  However,  from 
what  there  is,  and  the  other  favorable  circumstances,  we 
are  warranted  to  expect  that  at  length,  in  the  exercise  of 
prudence,  fortitude,  and  piety,  we  shall  get  well  through 
our  difficulties. 


a  The  resolve  of  an  embodied  people,  in  a  contest  for  liberty,  when  the  voice 
of  the  majority  has  been  fairly  obtained,  to  interrupt,  and,  where  necessary,  forci- 
bly to  prevent  a  trade  that  would  ruin  the  common  cause,  and  cannot  be  carried 
on  without  subjecting  them  to  slavery,  notwithstanding  the  great  injury  it  may 
occasion  to  individuals,  I  apprehend,  will,  on  the  same  principles  that  justify 
a  proscribing  a  traffic  that  would  hazard  the  introduction  of  the  pestilence, 
admit  of  as  much  stronger  a  vindication  as  slavery  is  the  greater  plague. 

with,  a  few  facetious  parsons  and  new-ftinjrlcd  minute-men,  to  make  a  ridicu- 
lous parade  of  arms  for  the  amusement  and  scoff  of  every  woman  and 
child  in  the  village."— Tory  "  Observations,"  quoted  before  on  p.  195.— 


PREACHED   DECEMBER   15,  1774.  223 

We  must  prudently  fall  in  with  the  measures  recom- 
mended by  the  congress,  that  so  we  may  not  be  reported 
to  other  colonies  as  disregarders  of  them,  whereby  first  a 
jealousy  may  be  produced,  and  then  a  disunion  effected. 
We  must  promote  unanimity  among  ourselves,  peace  and 
good  order,  that  we  may  not  be  represented  as  desir- 
ous of  contusion  in  hopes  of  making  an  advantage  of  it. 
We  should  let  the  laws  of  honor  and  honesty  have  their 
full  weight  with  us,  that  we  may  fill  under  no  reproach 
for  abusing  the  present  suspension  of  human  laws.  We 
should  diligently  provide  for  the  worst,  and  be  upon  our 
guard,  that  we  may  not  be  suddenly  stripped  of  those 
appurtenances,^  the  loss  of  which  will  be  severely  felt 
should  we  be  called  upon,  by  a  du*e  necessity,  to  make 
our  appeal  to  Heaven. 

I  have  been  ready  at  times  to  infer,  from  the  military 
spirit  that  hath  spread  through  the  continent,  that  though 
we  are  to  be  saved,  it  is  not  to  be  without  the  sword,  or,  at 
least,  the  strong  appearance  of  it,  unless  Infinite  Wisdom 
(which  we  shall  heartily  rejoice  to  find  is  the  case)  should 
be  in  this  way  preparing  the  colonies  for  cooperating  with 
the  parent  state,  after  that  matters  in  dispute  have  been 
settled  to  satisfaction,  in  some  important  struggle  with  a 
common  enemy ;  and  therein,  by  giving  her  effectual  as- 
sistance, for  wiping  away  the  reproaches  that  interested 
calumny  and  malice  have  throw^n  upon  them,  and  for  con- 
firming an  eternal  friendship.  But  is  it  the  awful  determi- 
nation of  Heaven  that  we  shall  not  retain  our  liberties 
without  fighting,  let  no  one  despair.     The  continent,  after 

1  General  Gage's  seizure  of  the  province  powder,  at  Charlestown,  Sep- 
tember 1st,  was  the  "first  indication  of  hostile  intention;"  and  in  his 
attempt  to  destroy  the  magazines  at  Concord,  in  April,  the  British  troops 
shed  the  first  blood  in  the  war  of  independence.  —  Frothinj^ham's  Siege  of 
Boston,  13—17,  51— 04.  — Ed. 


224 


having  discovered  consummate  wisdom,  can  never  conduct 
so  absurdly  as  to  leave  a  single  colony  alone  in  the  dis- 
pute. Their  own  security  will  constrain  them  to  support 
whichsoever  is  attacked.  They  will  rather  assist  at  a  dis- 
tance than  have  a  war  upon  or  within  their  own  borders, 
and  will  be  sensible  that  whoever  fights  on  the  side  of 
American  liberty  hazards  his  life  in  their  battles.  Should 
it  be  allowed,  for  argument's  sake,  that  some  one  province 
or  other,  through  selfishness  or  timidity,  should  basely 
slink  from  the  common  danger,  yet  would  the  rest  have 
greater  probability  of  succeeding  than  had  the  Dutch  when 
they  began  to  emerge  from  slavery  and  to  acquire  their 
liberties.*     Let  us  be  but  brave,  and  we  may  promise  our- 


a  "  The  whole  country  of  the  seven  United  Provinces  is  not  as  large  as  one-half 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  when  they  began  their  contest  with  Philip  the  Second  for 
their  liberty,  contained  about  as  many  inhabitants  as  are  now  in  the  province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.l  Philip's  empire  then  comprehended,  in  Europe,  all  Spaiu 
and  Portugal,  the  two  Sicilies,  and  such  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries  as  ad- 
hered to  him;  many  islands  of  importance  in  the  Mediterranean ;  the  Milanese 
and  many  other  valuable  territories  in  Italy,  and  elsewhere;  in  Africa  and  Asia, 
all  the  dominions  belonging  to  Spain  and  Portugal ;  in  America,  the  immense 
countries  subject  to  those  two  kingdoms,  with  all  their  treasures  and  yet  unex- 
hausted mines;  and  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  His  armies  were  numerous  and 
veteran,  excellently  officered,  and  commanded  by  the  most  renowned  generals. 
So  great  Avas  their  force,  that,  during  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries,  his  com- 
mander-in-chief, the  Prince  of  Parma,  mai'ched  twice  into  France,  and  obliged 
that  great  general  and  glorious  king,  Henry  the  Fourth,  to  raise  at  one  time  the 
siege  of  Paris,  and  at  another  that  of  Roan.  So  considerable  was  the  naval 
power  of  Philip,  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  same  wars,  he  fitted  out  his  dreadful 
armada  to  invade  England.  Yet  seven  little  provinces,  or  counties,  as  wc  should 
call  them  (says  that  eminent  Pennsylvanian),  inspired  by  one  general  resolution 
'to  die  free  rather  than  live  slaves,'  not  only  baflled,  but  brought  down  into  the 
dust,  that  enormous  power  that  had  contended  for  universal  empire,  and  for 
half  a  century  was  the  terror  of  tlie  world.  Such  an  amazing  change  indeed 
took  place,  that  those  provinces  afterward  actually  protected  Spain  against  the 
power  of  France." 

1  The  history  of  the  name  of  "  Massachusetts  Bay,"  as  it  appears  on  the 
title-page,  leads  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  colony.  "  Massachusets, 
alias  Mattachusets,  alias  Massatiiscts  bay,"  as  it  is  called  in  the  charter 
4th  Charles  I.,  originally  designating  only  what  is  now  Boston  harbor,  was, 
by  force  of  the  royal  charters,  applied  to  the  colony  and  to  the  province, 
and  by  custom  to  the  sea  within  the  headlands  of  Cape  Ann  and  Cape  Cod. 


PREACHED    DECEMBER   15,  1774.  225 

selves  success.  Do  we  join  piety  to  our  prudence  and  for- 
titude; do  we  confess  and  repent  of  our  sins,  justify  God 
in  his  so  trying  us,  accept  of  our  punishment  at  his  hands 
without  murmuring  or  complaining;  do  we  humble  our- 
selves, amend  our  ways  and  doings,  give  up  ourselves  to 
God,  become  a  holy  people,  and  make  the  Most  High  our 
confidence,  —  we  may  hope  that  he  will  be  on  our  side ; 
and  "  if  the  Lord  is  for  us,  what  can  men  do  unto  us  ? " 
Have  we  the  God  of  hosts  for  our  ally,  we  might  bid 
adieu  to  fear,  though  the  world  was  united  against  us. 

Let  us,  then,  be  pious,  brave,  and  prudent,  and  we  shall 
—  some  of  us,  at  least  —  have  room  for  thanksgivings,  not 
merely  for  promising  appearances,  but  for  actual  deliver- 
ance out  of  present  difficulties,  though  it  should  not  be 
till  we  have  been  conversant  with  the  din  of  arms  and  the 
horrors  of  war.  But  should  the  country  be  wasted  for  a 
few  years,  and  a  number  of  its  inhabitants  be  destroyed, 
ere  the  wished-for  salvation  is  granted,  how  soon,  after 
having  secured  its  liberties,  will  it  regain  its  former  pros- 
perity ;  yea,  become  far  more  glorious,  wealthy,  and  popu- 
lous than  ever,  through  the  thousands  and  ten  thousands 
that  will  flock  to  it,  with  riches,  arts,  and  sciences,  ac- 
quired by  them  in  foreign  countries !  And  how  will  the 
surviving  inhabitants  and  their  posterity,  together  with 
refugees  who  have  fled  from  oppression  and  hardships, 
whether  civil  or  sacred,  to  our  American  sanctuary,  daily 


It  was  the  Indian  name  of  tlie  hill  at  Squantum,  on  the  southern  shore 
of  Boston  harbor. 

*'  Thence  Massachusetts  took  her  honored  name."i 

The  affix  of  "Bay  "  was  discontinued  in  the  constitution  of  1780.  This 
was  the  origin  of  the  popular  names,  "The  Bay  People,"  "The  Bay 
State,"  "The  Old  Bay  State." 

1  From  the  beautiful  poem,  by  Wm.  P.  Lunt,  D.D.,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  "  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  "  at  Quincy.  —  Ed. 


226  A   THANKSGIVING   SERMON. 

give  thanks  to  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  that  this  gen- 
eral asylum  was  not  consumed !  How  oft  will  they,  with 
raptures,  think  upon  that  noble  exertion  of  courage  that 
prevented  it,  celebrate  the  praises  of  those  that  led  and 
suffered  in  the  common  cause,  and  with  glowing  hearts 
bless  that  God  who  owned  the  goodness  of  it,  and  at 
length  crowned  it  with  success!  Hallelujah.  The  Lord 
God  omnipotent  reigneth. 


The  way  to  escape  an  attack  is  to  be  in  readiness  to 
receive  it.  While  administration  consists  of  those  that 
have  avowed  their  dislike  to  the  principles  of  this  conti- 
nent, and  the  known  friends  of  America  are  excluded, 
there  should  be  no  dependence  upon  the  fair  speeches  or 
actual  promises  of  any,  but  the  colonies  should  pursue  the 
means  of  safety  as  vigorously  as  ever,  that  they  may  not 
be  surprised.  'T  is  the  most  constant  maxim  of  war,  that 
a  man  ought  never  to  be  more  upon  his  guard  than  while 
he  is  in  treaty  ;  for  want  of  attending  to  it,  King  Edward 
the  Fourth  was  suddenly  attacked,  defeated,  and  made 
prisoner,  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  in  1470. 


Government  corrupted  by  Vice^  and  recovered  by 
Righteoufnefs. 


SERMON 

PREACHED 

Before   the   Honorable 

CONGRESS 

Of    the    Colony 

Of  the  Majfachufetts-Bay 

In    NEW-ENGLAND, 

AfTembled    at    IVMERrO^N, 

On  Wednefday  the  31ft  Day  o^  May^  ^11S' 

Being  the  Anniverfary  fixed  by  CHARTER 

For  the  Eledion  of  COUNSELLORS. 

By    Samuel    Langdon,    D.   D. 

Prefident  of  Harvard  College  in  Cambridge. 

As    a  roaring    Lion    and    a    ranging    Bear,    fo    is    a 
wicked  Ruler  over  the  poor  People.      Prov.  28.  15. 


PV     J    r     E     R      r     0     PV     N: 

Printed  and  Sold  by   BENJAMIN    EDES, 

Mdcclxxv. 


In  Provincial  Congress,  Watertown.  May  31,  p.  m.,  1775. 

Ordered,  That  Mr.  Gill,  Dr.  Whiting,  Mr.  Titts,  Mr.  Jewet,  and  Col.  Lincoln 
be  a  Committee  to  return  the  thanks  of  this  Congress  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Langdou 
for  his  excellent  Sermon  delivered  to  the  Congress  in  the  forenoon;  and  to 
request  a  copy  of  it  for  the  press. 

A  true  extract  from  the  Minutes. 

SA3IUEL  FREEMAN,  Secretary. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  last  few  months  in  Massachusetts  developed  a  temper  in  the 
people,  and  a  persistent  policy  on  the  part  of  Governor  Gage,  which, 
manifestly  to  both  parties,  must  before  long  end  in  collision.  On  the 
1st  of  September,  1774,  Governor  Gage  issued  precepts  for  "  the  Great 
and  General  Court"  to  be  convened  at  Salem,  October  5th;  on  the 
28th  of  September  he  issued  his  "  proclamation,"  that,  "  from  the  many 
tumults  and  disorders  which  had  since  taken  place,  the  extraordinary 
resolves  which  had  been  passed  in  many  of  the  counties,  the  instructions 
given  by  the  town  of  Boston,  and  some  other  towns,  to  their  representa- 
tives, and  the  present  disordered  and  unhappy  state  of  the  province,"  he 
then  thought  it  highly  inexpedient  that  it  should  be  so  convened.  But 
ninety  of  the  representatives  did  meet  at  Salem  on  the  5th,  and  on  the 
next  day,  Thursday,  organized  a  convention  —  John  Hancock,  Chairman, 
and  Benjamin  Lincoln,  Clerk.  On  Friday  they  "resolved  themselves  into 
a  Provincial  Congress,"  which,  after  several  sessions,  was  dissolved,  De- 
cember 10th,  —  having  first  "  recommended  "  the  election  of  delegates  to 
another  congress,  February  1st  ensuing,  to  "  consult,  deliberate,  and  resolve 
upon  such  further  measures  as,  under  God,  shall  be  effectual  to  save  this 
people  from  impending  ruin,  and  to  secure  those  inestimable  liberties 
derived  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  and  which  it  is  our  duty  to  preserve 
for  posterity."  The  third  Provincial  Congress  assembled  at  Watertown, 
May  31,  1775;  and  before  that  body  President  Langdon  delivered  this 
Sermon,  it  being  the  day  fixed  by  charter  for  the  election  of  councillors, 
—  "  election-day,"  —  and  this  was  the  usual  "  Election  Sermon." 

The  first  blood  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  shed  at  Lexington,  on 
the  19th  of  April,  1775.  The  fire  of  British  guns  gleamed  over  the 
colonies,  and  beneath  its  flash  every  heart  throbbed,  and  every  soul  felt 
that  the  die  was  cast.    Yet  it  was  not  Englishmen  who  were  in  fratricidal 

20 


230  editor's  prefatory  note. 

war  with  their  American  brethren,  but  Enf^land,  palsied  by  the  church 
"gospel"  of  unlimited  submission,  and  corrupted  by  her  German  king. 
Even  then,  though  shocked,  there  yet  lingered  in  the  American  breast 
the  old  yearning  towards  "  home,"  the  mother-land,  and  the  fond  pride 
of  British  nationality,  which  might  have  been  rekindled,  and  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  political  bands  deferred;  but  German  obstinacy  smothered 
the  flame,  and  resistance  —  "  rebellion  " —  became  a  revolution.  Happily, 
time  heals  the  wounds  and  dissipates  the  asperities  of  political  separation ; 
and  in  the  indissoluble  unity  of  the  nations  in  blood,  in  language,  and  in 
fiaith,  there  remains  a  nobler  brotherhood,  dear  to  every  manly  heart  and 
Christian  hope. 

The  resistance  and  union  of  the  colonies  were  the  very  opposite  of  the 
results  expected  by  the  ministry.  Severity  defeated  its  ends.  Colonial 
non-importation,  non-exportation,  and  non-consumption  agreements  were 
met  by  government  prohibition  of  the  fisheries  and  commerce,  though 
it  involved  a  sacrifice  of  British  interests;  for  it  was  shown  that  New 
England  only  could  successfully  prosecute  the  fisheries,  and  the  table  of 
the  House  of  Commons  Avas  loaded  with  statistics  of  their  enormous  value 
and  importance  to  trade.  The  sword  was  two-edged;  but  with  George  IH. 
personal  feelings  were  superior  to  national  interests. 

The  Provincial  Congress  voted,  May  5th,  that  General  Gage  "  ought  to 
be  considered  and  guarded  against  as  an  unnatural  and  inveterate  enemy 
to  the  country."  One  hundred  thousand  pounds  lawful  money  were 
voted;  and  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  men,  from  Massachusetts 
alone,  enlisted,  as  a  superior  force  was  the  "  only  means  left  to  stem 
the  rapid  progress  of  a  tyrannical  ministry."  Force  must  be  met  by 
force;  and  the  colonial  militia  — men  with  souls  in  them,  ardent  for  their 
own  firesides  and  rights  —  were  ready  for  the  king's  mercenary  troops. 
"  In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress"  was 
authority  enough.  '  Proclamations  from  royal  governors  were  as  the  idle 
wind.  Gage  was  master  of  Boston  only.  The  trembling  tories  detained 
the  wives  and  children  of  the  patriots  in  Boston,  for  the  security  of  the 
town,  though  in  violation  of  General  Gage's  faith  for  their  removal.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  seaports,  exposed  to  the  enemy  by  sea,  fled  from  their 
homes  to  the  interior,  and  were  in  want  and  suff"ering.  "  How  much 
better,"  said  the  preacher,  oppressed  by  the  sight  of  all  this  misery,  "  for 
the  inhabitants  to  have  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  defend  themselves 
by  their  arms  against  such  an  enemy!"  The  day  at  Lexington  and 
Concord,  and  other  principal  events,  are  referred  to  in  the  Sermon. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  231 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  face  of  affairs  on  this  31st  of  May,  Avhen  the 
Provincial  Congress  was  convened  .at  Watertown.  The  old  formula  of 
proceedings  was  observed  as  far  as  possible.     It  was  — 

''Ordered,  That  Mr.  Brown,  Doct.  Taylor,  and  Colonel  Sayer  be  [a] 
committee  to  wait  on  the  commanding  officer  of  the  militia  of  this 
town,  to  thank  him  for  his  polite  offer  to  escort  the  Congress  to  the 
meeting-house,  and  to  inform  him  that,  as  this  Congress  are  now  sitting, 
the  Congress  think  it  needless  to  withdraw  for  that  purpose :  but  will, 
with  the  reverend  gentlemen  of  the  clergy,  attend  them  to  Mrs.  Coolidge's, 
if  they  please  to  escort  them  thither,  when  the  Congress  adjourns." 

By  a  special  vote,  Dr.  Langdon's  Sermon  was  sent  to  each  minister  in 
the  colony,  and  to  each  member  of  the  Congress. 

The  preacher,  Samuel  Langdon,  D.  D.,  born  in  Boston,  in  the  year 
1722,  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1740,  and  chaplain  of  a  regiment 
in  the  antsade  against  Louisburg,  1745,  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H.,  from  1747  till  1774,  when,  by  reason  of  his  eminent  talents, 
learning,  and  piety,  and  of  his  bold  and  zealous  patriotism,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  presidency  of  Harvard  College. 

He  was  moderator  of  the  annual  convention  of  the  ministers,  held,  by 
special  invitation  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  at  Watertown,  June  1st, 
following  election-day,  when  he  signed  the  following  letter: 

"To  the  Hon.  Joseph  Warren,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  the  Colony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  etc. 

"  Sir  :  —  We,  the  pastors  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  Colony 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  our  present  annual  convention," —  at  Water- 
town,  June  1,  1775,  —  "  gratefully  beg  leave  to  express  the  sense  we  have 
of  the  regard  shown  by  the  Honorable  Provincial  Congress  to  us,  and  the 
encouragement  they  have  been  pleased  to  afford  to  our  assembling  as  a 
body  this  day.  Deeply  impressed  with  sympathy  for  the  distresses  of 
our  much-injured  and  oppressed  country,  we  are  not  a  little  relieved  in 
beholding  the  I'epresentatives  of  this  people,  chosen  by  their  free  and 
unbiassed  suffrages,  now  met  to  concert  measures  for  their  relief  and 
defence,  in  whose  wisdom  and  integrity,  under  the  smiles  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, we  cannot  but  express  our  entire  confidence. 

"  As  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  raise  an  army  for  the  common 
safety,  and  our  brave  countrymen  have  so  willingly  offered  themselves  to 
this  hazardous  service,  we  are  not  insensible  of  the  vast  burden  that 
their  necessary  maintenance  must" — devolve — "upon  the  people.   We 


232  editor's  prefatory  note. 

therefore  cannot  forbear,  upon  this  occasion,  to  offer  our  services  i  to 
the  public,  and  to  signify  our  readiness,  with  the  consent  of  our  several 
congregations,  to  officiate,  by  rotation,  as  chaplains  to  the  army. 

"  We  devoutly  commend  the  Congress,  and  our  brethren  in  arms,  to 
the  guidance  and  protection  of  that  Providence  which,  from  the  first 
settlement  of  this  country,  has  so  remarkably  appeared  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  its  civil  and  religious  rights. 

"  SAMUEL  LAXGDOX,  Moderator." 

After  an  able  administration,  in  a  period  of  peculiar  embarrassment,  he 
resigned  the  presidency  of  the  college,  and  became  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Hampton  Falls. 

In  the  New  Hampshire  State  Convention  of  1788  he  was  prominent  in 
securing  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  He  died,  November 
29th,  1797,  beloved  and  revered  for  his  private  and  public  life.2 


1  See  Address  to  the  Clergy,  p.  xxxvii. 

2  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Clark's  sketch  in  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit, 
i.  455—459. 


DISCOURSE  Y, 


AN  ELECTION  SERMON. 


AST)  I  WILL  RESTORE  THY  JUDGES  AS  AT  THE  FIRST,  AND  THT  COUNSELLOT".!* 
AS  AT  THE  BEGINNING;  AFTERWARD  THOU  SHALT  BE  CALLED  THE  CITV 
OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS,  THE  FAITHFUL   CITY.  —  Isaiah  i.  26. 


Shall  we  rejoice,  my  fathers  and  brethren,  or  shall  we 
weep  together,  on  the  return  of  this  anniversary,  which 
from  the  first  settlement  of  this  colony  has  been  sacred  to 
liberty,  to  jjerpetuate  that  invaluable  privilege  of  choosing 
from  among  ourselves  wise  men,  fearing  God  and  hating 
covetousness,  to  be  honorable  counsellors,  to  constitute  one 
essential  branch  of  that  happy  government  which  was 
established  on  the  faith  of  royal  charters  ? 

On  this  day  the  people  have  from  year  to  year  assem- 
bled, from  all  our  towns,  in  a  vast  congregation,  with  glad- 
ness and  festivity,  with  every  ensign  of  joy  displayed  in 
our  metropolis,  which  now,  alas !  is  made  a  garrison  of 
mercenary  troops,  the  stronghold  of  despotism.  But  how 
shall  I  now  address  you  from  this  desk,  remote  from  the 
capital,  and  remind  you  of  the  important  business  which 
distinguished  this  day  in  our  calendar,  without  spreading 
a  gloom  over  this  assembly  by  exhibiting  the  melancholy 
change  made  in  the  face  of  our  public  affairs  ? 

We  have  lived  to  see  the  time  when  British  liberty  is 
just  ready  to  expire,  —  when  that  constitution  of  govern- 
ment which  has  so  long  been  the  glory  and  strength  of 
the  English  nation  is  deeply  undermined  and  ready  to 

20* 


234  THE    ELECTION  SERMON 

tumble  into  ruins,  —  when  America  is  threatened  with  cruel 
oppression,  and  the  arm  of  power  is  stretched  out  against 
New  England,  and  especially  against  this  colony,  to  com- 
pel us  to  submit  to  the  arbitrary  acts  of  legislators  who 
are  not  our  representatives,  and  who  will  not  themselves 
bear  the  least  part  of  the  burdens  which,  without  mercy, 
they  are  laying  upon  us.  The  most  formal  and  solemn 
grants  of  kings  to  our  ancestors  are  deemed  by  our  op- 
pressors as  of  little  value  ;  and  they  have  mutilated  the 
charter  of  this  colony,  in  the  most  essential  parts,  upon 
false  representations,  and  new-invented  maxims  of  policy, 
without  the  least  regard  to  any  legal  process.  We  are  no 
longer  permitted  to  fix  our  eyes  on  the  faithful  of  the  land, 
and  trust  in  the  wisdom  of  their  counsels  and  the  equity  of 
their  judgment ;  but  men  in  whom  we  can  have  no  confi- 
dence, whose  principles  are  subversive  of  our  liberties, 
whose  aim  is  to  exercise  lordship  over  us,  and  share  among 
themselves  the  public  wealth, — men  who  are  ready  to  serve 
any  master,  and  execute  the  most  unrighteous  decrees  for 
high  wages,  —  whose  faces  we  never  saw  before,  and  whose 
interests  and  connections  may  be  far  divided  from  us  by 
the  wide  Atlantic,  —  are  to  be  set  over  us,  as  counsellors 
and  judges,  at  the  pleasure  of  those  who  have  the  riches 
and  power  of  the  nation  in  their  hands,  and  whose  noblest 
plan  is  to  subjugate  the  colonies,  first,  and  then  the  whole 
nation,  to  their  will. 

That  we  might  not  have  it  in  our  power  to  refuse  the 
most  absolute  submission  to  their  unlimited  claims  of  au- 
thority, they  have  not  only  endeavored  to  terrify  us  with 
fleets  and  armies  sent  to  our  capital,  and  distressed  and  put 
an  end  to  our  trade,  —  particularly  that  important  branch 
of  it,  the  fishery,^ — but  at  length  attempted,  by  a  sudden 

1  Mr.  Sabine's  learned  "  Report  on  the  Principal  Fisheries  of  the  Amer- 
ican Seas,"  1853,  is  an  invaluable  contribution  to  American  history.    It  is 


AT   WATEKTOVVN,   MAY   31,  1775.  Z^b 

march  of  fx  body  of  troops  in  the  night,^  to  seize  and 
destroy  one  of  our  magazines,  formed  by  the  people  merely 
for  their  security,  if,  after  such  formidable  military  prep- 
arations on  the  other  side,  matters  should  be  pushed  to  an 
extremity.  By  this,  as  might  well  be  expected,  a  skirmish 
was  brought  on ;  and  it  is  most  evident,  from  a  variety  of 
concurring  circumstances,  as  well  as  numerous  depositions 
both  of  the  prisoners  taken  by  us  at  that  time  and  our  own 
men  then  on  the  spot  only  as  spectators,  that  the  fire 
began  first  on  the  side  of  the  king's  troops.  At  least  five 
or  six  of  our  inhabitants  were  murderously  killed  by  the 
regulars  at  Lexington  before  any  man  attempted  to  return 
the  fire,  and  when  they  were  actually  complying  with  the 
command  to  disperse  ;  and  two  more  of  our  brethren  were 
likewise  killed  at  Concord  bridge,  by  a  fire  from  the  king's 
soldiers,  before  ^  the  engagement  began  on  our  side.  But, 
whatever  credit  falsehoods  transmitted  to  Great  Britain 
from  the  other  side  may  gain,  the  matter  may  be  rested 
entirely  on  this :  that  he  that  arms  himself  to  commit  a 
robbery,  and  demands  the  traveller's  j)urse  by  the  terror 
of  instant  death,  is  the  first  aggressor,  though  the  other 
should  take  the  advantage  of  discharging  his  weapon  first, 
and  killing  the  robber. 

The  alarm  was  sudden,  but  in  a  very  short  time  sj^read 
far  and  wide.  The  nearest  neighbors  in  haste  ran  together 
to  assist  their  brethren  and  save  their  country.  Not  more 
than  three  or  four  hundred  met  in   season,  and   bravely 

essential  to  a  correct  knowledge  of  American  colonization,  and  of  much 
of  our  subsequent  history.  —  Ed. 

1  April  18-19.  — Ed. 

2  Mr.  Frothingham  presents  the  results  of  an  able  and  conscientious 
study  of  these  events  in  his  "  History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston,"  —  "  The  best 
of  our  historic  monographs."—  Bancroft  in  Allibone.  See  also  Mr.  Henry 
B.  Dawson's  elaborate  pages  in  "  The  Battles  of  the  United  States."  — 
Ed. 


236  THE   ELECTION    SERMON 

attacked  and  repulsed  the  enemies  of  liberty,  who  re- 
treated with  great  precipitation.  But,  by  the  help  of  a 
strong  reinforcement,  notwithstanding  a  close  pursuit  and 
continual  loss  on  their  side,  they  acted  the  part  of  rob- 
bers and  savages,  by  burning,^  plundering,  and  damaging 
almost   every  house  in  their  way  to  the  utmost  of  their 


1  Rev.  Isaac  Mansfield,  Jr.,  chaplain  to  General  Thomas's  regiment,  in 
his  Thanksgiving  Sermon  "  in  the  camp  at  Roxbury,  November  23,  1775," 
says  of  the  event  of  April  19th :  "  What  but  the  hand  of  Providence  pre- 
served the  school  of  the  prophets  from  their-  ravage,  who  would  have 
deprived  us  of  many  advantages  for  moral  or  religious  improvement?" 
To  this  he  adds  the  note  following :  "  '  General  Gage,  as  governor  of  this 
province,  issued  his  precepts  for  convening  a  General  Assembly  at  Boston, 
designing  to  enforce  a  compliance  with  Lord  North's  designing  motion; 
they  were  to  be  kept  as  prisoners  in  garrison,  till,  under  the  mouth  of  can- 
non and  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  they  should  be  reduced  to  a  mean  and 
servile  submission.  To  facilitate  this  matter,  he  was  to  send  out  a  party 
to  take  possession  of  a  magazine  at  Concord.  Presuming  that  this  might 
be  done  without  opposition,  the  said  party,  upon  their  return  from  Con- 
cord, were  to  lay  waste  till  they  should  arrive  at  Cambridge  common; 
there,  after  destroying  the  colleges" —  seminaries  of  sedition  —  "  and  other 
buildings,  they  were  to  throAv  up  an  entrenchment  upon  the  said  common, 
their  number  was  to  be  increased  from  the  garrison,  and  the  next  morning 
a  part  of  the  artillery  to  be  removed  and  planted  in  the  entrenchment 
aforesaid.  This  astonishing  manoeuvre,  it  was  supposed,  would  so  eflfect- 
ually  intimidate  the  constituents,  that  the  General  Assembly,  by  the  com- 
pliance designed,  would  literally  represent  their  constituents.'  The  author 
is  not  at  liberty  to  publish  the  channel  through  which  he  received  the  fore- 
going, but  begs  to  assure  the  reader  that  it  came  so  direct  that  he  cannot 
hesitate  in  giving  credit  to  it.  He  I'ecollects  one  circumstance  which  ren- 
ders it  highly  probable:  Lord  Percy  (on  April  19),  suspicious  his  progress 
to  Concord  might  be  retarded  by  the  plank  of  the  bridge  at  Cambridge 
being  taken  away,  brought  out  from  Boston  several  loads  of  plank,  with 
a  number  of  carpenters;  not  finding  occasion  to  use  them,  he  carried  them 
on  his  way  to  Concord,  perhaps  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  bridge; 
about  an  hour  after  the  plank  were  returned.  If  he  had  intended  to 
repass  that  river  at  night,  he  must  have  reserved  the  plank;  if  he  designed 
to  stop  in  Cambridge,  the  plank  must  be  an  incumbrance.  This  conduct, 
in  returning  the  plank,  may  be  accounted  for  upon  supposition  of  the 
foregoing  plan  of  operation."—  Ed. 


AT    WATERTOWN,    MAY   31,  1775.  237 

power,  murdering  the  unarmed  and  helpless,  and  not  re- 
garding the  weaknesses  of  the  tender  sex,  until  they  had 
secured  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  our  terrifying 
arms.* 

That  ever-memorable  day,  the  nineteenth  of  April,  is 
the  date  of  an  unhappy  war  openly  begun  by  the  minis- 
ters of  the  king  of  Great  Brittiin  against  his  good  subjects 
in  this  colony,  and  implicitly  against  all  the  other  colonies. 
But  for  what  ?  Because  they  have  made  a  noble  stand 
for  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights,  in  opposition  to 
the  machinations  of  wicked  men  who  are  betraying  their 
royal  master,  establishing  Popery  in  the  British  dominions, 
and  aiming  to  enslave  and  ruin  the  whole  nation,  that 
they  may  enrich  themselves  and  their  vile  dependents 
with  the  public  treasures  and  the  spoils  of  America. 

We  have  used  our  utmost  endeavors,  by  repeated  hum- 
ble petitions  and  remonstrances,  by  a  series  of  unanswer- 
able reasonings  published  from  the  press,  —  in  which  the 
dispute  has  been  fairly  stated,  and  the  justice  of  our 
opposition  clearly  demonstrated,  —  and  by  the  mediation 
of  some  of  the  noblest  and  most  faithful  friends  of  the 
British  constitution,  who  have  jDowerfully  plead  our  cause 
in  Parliament,  to  prevent  such  measures  as  may  soon  re- 
duce the  body  politic  to  a  miserable,  dismembered,  dying 
trunk,  though  lately  the  terror  of  all  Europe.     But  our 


a  Near  the  meetiug-house  in  Menotomy  i  two  aged,  helpless  men,  who  had  not 
been  out  in  the  action,  and  were  found  unarmed  in  a  house  where  the  regulars 
entered,  were  murdered  without  mercy.  In  another  house,  in  that  neighborhood, 
a  woman,  in  bed  with  a  new-born  infant  about  a  week  old,  was  forced  by  the 
threats  of  the  soldiery  to  escape,  almost  naked,  to  an  open  outhouse;  her  house 
was  then  set  on  fire,  but  was  soon  extinguished  by  one  of  the  children  which 
had  laid  concealed  till  the  enemy  was  gone.  In  Cambridge,  a  man  of  weak 
mental  powers,  who  went  out  to  gaze  at  the  regular  army  as  they  passed,  with- 
out arms  or  thought  of  danger,  was  wantonly  shot  at  and  killed  by  those  inhu- 
man butchers  as  he  sat  on  a  fence. 

1  Now  West  Cambridge.  — Ed. 


238  THE   ELECTION   SERMON 

king,  as  if  impelled  by  some  strange  fatality,  is  resolved  to 
reason  with  us  only  by  the  roar  of  his  cannon  and  the 
pointed  arguments  of  muskets  and  bayonets.  Because 
we  refuse  submission  to  the  despotic  power  of  a  minis- 
terial Parliament,  our  own  sovereign,  to  whom  we  have 
been  always  ready  to  swear  true  allegiance,  —  whose  au- 
thority we  never  meant  to  cast  off,  who  might  have  con- 
tinued happy  in  the  cheerful  obedience  of  as  fliithful  sub- 
jects as  any  in  his  dominions,  —  has  given  us  up  to  the 
rage  of  his  ministers,  to  be  seized  at  sea  by  the  rapacious 
commanders  of  every  little  sloop  of  war  and  piratical  cut- 
ter, and  to  be  plundered  and  massacred  by  land  by  mer- 
cenary troops,  who  know  no  distinction  betwixt  an  enemy 
and  a  brother,  between  right  and  wrong,  but  only,  like 
brutal  pursuers,  to  hunt  and  seize  the  prey  pointed  out  by 
their  masters. 

We  must  keep  our  eyes  fixed  on  the  supreme  govern- 
ment of  the  Eternal  King,  as  directing  all  events,  setting 
up  or  pulling  down  the  kings  of  the  earth  at  his  pleasure, 
suffering  the  best  forms  of  human  government  to  degen- 
erate and  go  to  ruin  by  corruption,  or  restoring  the  de- 
cayed constitutions  of  kingdoms  and  states  by  reviving 
public  virtue  and  religion,  and  granting  the  favorable 
interpositions  of  his  providence.  To  this  our  text  leads 
us ;  and,  though  I  hope  to  be  excused  on  this  occasion 
from  a  formal  discourse  on  the  words  in  a  doctrinal  way, 
yet  I  must  not  wholly  pass  over  the  religious  instruction 
contained  in  them. 

Let  us  consider  —  that  for  the  sins  of  a  people  God 
may  suffer  the  best  government  to  be  corrupted  or  en- 
tirely dissolved,  and  that  nothing  but  a  general  reforma- 
tion can  give  good  ground  to  hope  that  the  public  happi- 
ness will  be  restored  by  the  recovery  of  the  strength  and 
perfection  of  the  state,  and  that  Divine  Providence  will 


AT   WATERTOWN,  MAT   31,  1775.  239 

interpose  to  fill  every  department  with  "wise  and  good 
men. 

Isaiah  prophesied  about  the  time  of  the  captivity  of  the 
Ten  Tribes  of  Israel,  and  about  a  century  before  the  cap- 
tivity of  Judah.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  was  brought  to 
destruction  because  its  iniquities  wei-e  full ;  its  counsellors 
and  judges  were  wholly  taken  away  because  there  re- 
mained no  hope  of  reformation.  But  the  sceptre  did  not 
entirely  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between 
his  feet,  till  the  Messiah  came;  yet  greater  and  greater 
changes  took  place  in  their  political  affairs  :  their  govern- 
ment degenerated  in  proportion  as  their  vices  increased, 
till  few  faithful  men  were  left  in  any  public  offices  ;  and  at 
length,  when  they  were  delivered  up  for  seventy  years 
into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  scarce  any  re- 
mains of  their  original  excellent  ci\T.l  polity  appeared 
among  them. 

The  Jewish  government,  according  to  the  original  con- 
stitution which  was  divinely  established,  if  considered 
merely  in  a  civil  view,  was  a  pei-fect  republic.  The  heads 
of  their  tribes  and  elders  of  their  cities  were  their  coun- 
sellors and  judges.  They  called  the  people  together  in 
more  general  or  particular  assemblies,  —  took  their  opin- 
ions, gave  advice,  and  managed  the  public  affairs  accord- 
ing to  the  general  voice.  Counsellors  and  judges  compre- 
hend all  the  powers  of  that  government ;  for  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  legislative  authority  belonging  to  it,  —  their 
complete  code  of  laws  being  given  immediately  from  God 
by  the  hand  of  Moses.  And  let  them  who  cry  up  the 
divine  right  of  kings  consider  that  the  only  form  of  gov- 
ernment which  had  a  proper  claim  to  a  divine  establish- 
ment was  so  far  from  including  the  idea  of  a  king,  that  it 
was  a  high  crime  for  Israel  to  ask  to  be  in  this  respect  like 
other  nations ;  and  when  they  were  gratified,  it  was  rather 


240  THE   ELECTION    SERMON 

as  a  just  punishment  of  their  folly,  that  they  might  feel 
the  burdens  of  court  pageantry,  of  which  they  were 
warned  by  a  very  striking  description,  than  as  a  divine 
recommendation  of  kingly  authority. 

Every  nation,  when  able  and  agreed,  has  a  right  to  set 
up  over  themselves  any  form  of  government  which  to 
them  may  appear  most  conducive  to  their  common  wel- 
fare. ^  The  civil  polity  of  Israel  is  doubtless  an  excellent 
general  model,  allowing  for  some  peculiarities;  at  least, 
some  principal  laws  and  orders  of  it  may  be  copied  to 
great  advantage  in  more  modern  establishments. 

When  a  government  is  in  its  prime,  the  public  good 
engages  the  attention  of  the  -whole ;  the  strictest  regard  is 
paid  to  the  qualifications  of  those  who  hold  the  offices  of 
the  state ;  virtue  prevails ;  everything  is  managed  with 
justice,  prudence,  and  frugality ;  the  laws  are  founded  on 
principles  of  equity  rather  than  mere  policy,  and  all  the 
people  are  happy.  But  vice  will  increase  with  the  riches 
and  glory  of  an  empire ;  and  this  gradually  tends  to  cor- 
rupt the  constitution,  and  in  time  bring  on  its  dissolution. 
This  may  be  considered  not  only  as  the  natural  effect  of 
vice,  but  a  righteous  judgment  of  Heaven,  especially  uj^on 
a  nation  which  has  been  favored  with  the  blessings  of 
religion  and  liberty,  and  is  guilty  of  undervaluing  them, 
and  eagerly  going  into  the  gratification  of  every  lust. 

In  this  chapter  the  prophet  describes  the  very  corrupt 
state  of  Judah  in  his  day,  both  as  to  religion  and  common 
morality,  and  looks  forward  to  that  increase  of  wicked- 

1  "  Governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  ....  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to 
alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government,  laying  its  founda- 
tions on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to 
them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  cifect  their  safety  and  happiness." — Dec. 
of  Ind.,  July  4th,  177G.  —  Ed. 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  241 

ness  which  would  bring  on  their  desolation  and  captivity. 
They  were  "  a  sinful  nation,  a  people  laden  with  iniquity, 
a  seed  of  evil-doers,  children  that  were  corrupters,  who 
had  forsaken  the  Lord,  and  provoked  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  to  anger."  The  whole  body  of  the  nation,  from  head 
to  foot,  was  full  of  moral  and  political  disorders,  without 
any  remaining  soundness.  Their  religion  was  all  mere  cere- 
mony and  hypocrisy  ;  and  even  the  laws  of  common  justice 
and  humanity  were  disregarded  in  their  public  courts. 
They  had  counsellors  and  judges,  but  very  different  from 
those  at  the  beginning  of  the  commonwealth.  Their 
princes  were  rebellious  against  God  and  the  constitution 
of  their  country,  and  companions  of  thieves,  —  giving 
countenance  to  every  artifice  for  seizing  the  property  of 
the  subjects  into  their  own  hands,  and  robbing  the  public 
treasury.  Every  one  loved  gifts,  and  followed  after  re- 
wards ;  they  regarded  the  perquisites  more  than  the  duties 
of  their  office ;  the  general  aim  was  at  profitable  places  and 
pensions ;  they  were  influenced  in  everything  by  bribery ; 
and  their  avarice  and  luxury  were  never  satisfied,  but  hur- 
ried them  on  to  all  kinds  of  oppression  and  violence,  so 
that  they  even  justified  and  encouraged  the  murder  of 
innocent  persons  to  support  their  lawless  power  and  in- 
crease their  wealth.  And  God,  in  righteous  judgment, 
left  them  to  run  into  all  this  excess  of  vice,  to  their  own 
destruction,  because  they  had  forsaken  him,  and  were 
guilty  of  wilful  inattention  to  the  most  essential  parts  of 
that  religion  which  had  been  given  them  by  a  well-attested 
revelation  from  heaven. 

The  Jewish  nation  could  not  but  see  and  feel  the  un- 
happy consequences  of  so  great  corruption  of  the  state. 
Doubtless  they  complained  much  of  men  in  power,  and 
very  heartily  and  liberally  reproached  them  for  their  noto- 
rious misconduct.     The  public  greatly  suffered,  and  the 

21 


242  THE   ELECTION   SERMON 

people  groaned  and  wished  for  better  rulers  and  better 
management;  but  in  vain  they  hoped  for  a  change  of  men 
and  measures  and  better  times  when  the  spirit  of  religion 
was  gone,  and  the  infection  of  vice  was  become  universal. 
The  whole  body  being  so  corrupted,  there  could  be  no 
rational  prospect  of  any  gi^eat  reformation  in  the  state,  but 
rather  of  its  ruin,  which  accordingly  came  on  in  Jeremiah's 
time.  Yet  if  a  general  reformation  of  religion  and  morals 
had  taken  place,  and  they  had  turned  to  God  from  all  their 
sins,  —  if  they  had  again  recovered  the  true  spirit  of  their 
religion,  —  God,  by  the  gracious  interpositions  of  his  prov- 
idence, would  soon  have  found  out  methods  to  restore  the 
former  virtue  of  the  state,  and  again  have  given  them  men 
of  wisdom  and  integrity,  according  to  their  utmost  wish, 
to  be  counsellors  and  judges.  This  was  verified  in  fact 
after  the  nation  had  been  purged  by  a  long  captivity,  and 
returned  to  their  own  land  humbled  and  filled  with  zeal 
for  God  and  his  law. 

By  all  this  we  may  be  led  to  consider  the  true  cause  of 
the  present  remarkable  troubles  which  are  come  upon  Great 
Britain  and  these  colonies,  and  the  only  effectual  remedy. 

We  have  rebelled  against  God.  We  have  lost  the  true 
spirit  of  Christianity,  though  we  retain  the  outward  pro- 
fession and  form  of  it.  We  have  neglected  and  set  light 
by  the  glorious  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his 
holy  commands  and  institutions.  The  worship  of  many 
is  but  mere  compliment  to  the  Deity,  while  their  hearts 
are  far  from  him.  By  many  the  gospel  is  corrupted  into 
a  superficial  system  of  moral  philosophy,  little  better 
than  ancient  Platonism ;  and,  after  all  the  pretended  re- 
finements of  moderns  in  the  theory  of  Christianity,  very 
little  of  the  pure  practice  of  it  is  to  be  found  among  those 
who  once  stood  foremost  in  the  profession  of  the  gospel. 
In  a  general  view  of  the  present  moral  state  of  Great 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY   31,  1775.  243 

Britain  it  may  be  said,  "  There  is  no  truth,  nor  mercy,  nor 
knowledge  of  God  in  the  land.  By  swearing,  and  lying, 
and  killing,  and  stealing,  and  committing  adultery,"  their 
wickedness  breaks  out,  and  one  murder  after  another  is 
committed,  under  the  connivance  and  encouragement  even 
of  that  authority  by  which  such  crimes  ought  to  be 
l^unished,  that  the  purposes  of  oppression  and  despotism 
may  be  answered.  As  they  have  increased,  so  have  they 
sinned  ;  therefore  God  is  changing  their  glory  into  shame. 
The  general  prevalence  of  vice  has  changed  the  whole  face 
of  things  in  the  British  government. 

The  excellency  of  the  constitution  has  been  the  boast 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  envy  of  neighboring  nations. 
In  former  times  the  great  departments  of  the  state,  and 
the  various  places  of  trust  and  authority,  were  filled  with 
men  of  wisdom,  honesty,  and  religion,  who  employed  all 
their  powers,  and  were  ready  to  risk  their  fortunes  and 
their  lives,  for  the  public  good.  They  were  faithful  coun- 
sellors to  kings;  directed  their  authority  and  majesty  to 
the  happiness  of  the  nation,  and  opposed  every  step  by 
which  despotism  endeavored  to  advance.  They  were 
fathers  of  the  people,  and  sought  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  the  whole  body.  They  did  not  exhaust  the  national 
wealth  by  luxury  and  bribery,  or  convert  it  to  their  own 
private  benefit  or  the  maintenance  of  idle,  useless  ofiicers 
and  dependents,  but  improved  it  faithfully  for  the  proper 
purposes  —  for  the  necessary  support  of  government  and 
defence  of  the  kingdom.  Their  laws  were  dictated  by 
wisdom  and  equality,  and  justice  was  administered  with 
impartiality.  Religion  discovered  its  general  influence 
among  all  ranks,  and  kept  out  great  corruptions  from 
places  of  power. 

But  in  what  does  the  British  nation  now  glory?  —  In  a 
mere  shadow  of  its  ancient  political  system,  —  in  titles  of 


244  THE   ELECTION    SERMON 

dignity  without  virtue,  —  in  vast  public  treasures  continu- 
ally lavished  in  corruption  till  every  fund  is  exhausted, 
notwithstanding  the  mighty  streams  perpetually  flowing 
in,  —  in  the  many  artifices  to  stretch  the  prerogatives  of 
the  crown  beyond  all  constitutional  bounds,  and  make  the 
king  an  absolute  monarch,  while  the  peoj^le  are  deluded 
with  a  mere  phantom  of  liberty.  What  idea  must  we 
entertain  of  that  great  government,  if  such  a  one  can  be 
found,  which  pretends  to  have  made  an  exact  counter- 
balance of  power  between  the  sovereign,  the  nobles  and 
the  commons,  so  that  the  three  branches  shall  be  an 
effectual  check  upon  each  other,  and  the  united  wisdom  of 
the  whole  shall  conspire  to  promote  the  national  felicity, 
but  which,  in  reality,  is  reduced  to  such  a  situation  that  it 
may  be  managed  at  the  sole  will  of  one  court  favorite  ? 
What  difference  is  there  betwixt  one^  man's  choosing,  at 
his  own  pleasure,  by  his  single  vote,  the  majority  of  those 
who  are  to  represent  the  people,  and  his  purchasing  in  such 
a  majority,  according  to  his  own  nomination,  with  money 
out  of  the  public  treasury,  or  other  effectual  methods  of 
influencing  elections  ?  And  what  shall  we  say  if,  in  the 
same  manner,  by  places,  pensions,  and  other  bribes,  a 
minister  of  the  crown  can  at  any  time  gain  over  a  nobler 
majority  likewise  to  be  entirely  subservient  to  his  purposes, 
and,  moreover,  persuade  his  royal  master  to  resign  himself 
lip  wholly  to  the  direction  of  his  counsels  ?     If  this  should 

1  Mr.  Burke,  in  his  "Thoughts  on  the  Present  Discontents,"  1770,  said: 
"  The  power  of  the  crown,  almost  rotten  and  dead  as  prerogative,  has 
grown  up  anew,  with  much  more  strength,  and  far  less  odium,  under  the 
name  of  injiuejice,"  intrigue,  and  favoritism ;  and  a  few  years  later  ho 
refers  to  the  "  not  disavowed  use  which  has  been  made  of  his  Majesty's 
name  for  the  purpose  of  the  most  unconstitutional,  corrupt,  and  dishon- 
orable influence  on  the  minds  of  the  members  of  this  Parliament  that 
ever  was  practised  in  this  kingdom.  No  attention  even  to  exterior  de- 
corum," etc,  —  Ed. 


AT   WATERTOWN,    MAY   31,  1775.  245 

be  the  case  of  any  nation,  from  one  seven  years'  end  to 
another,  the  bargain  and  sale  being  made  sure  for  such  a 
period,  would  they  still  have  reason  to  boast  of  their  ex- 
cellent constitution?^  Ought  they  not  rather  to  think  it 
high  time  to  restore  the  corrupted,  dying  state  to  its  origi- 
nal perfection  ?  I  will  apply  this  to  the  Roman  senate 
under  Julius  Caesar,  which  retained  all  its  ancient  for- 
malities, but  voted  always  only  as  Caesar  dictated.  If  the 
decrees  of  such  a  senate  were  urged  on  the  Romans,  as 
fraught  with  all  the  blessings  of  Roman  liberty,  we  must 
suppose  them  strangely  deluded  if  they  were  persuaded 
to  believe  it. 

The  pretence  for  taxing  America  has  been  that  the  na- 
tion contracted  an  immense  debt  for  the  defence  of  the 
American  colonies,  and  that,  as  they  are  now  able  to  con- 
tribute some  proportion  towards  the  discharge  of  this  debt, 
and  must  be  considered  as  part  of  the  nation,  it  is  rea- 
sonable they  should  be  taxed,  and  the  Parliament  has  a 
right  to  tax  and  govern  them,  in  all  cases  whatever,  by  its 
own  supreme  authority.  Enough  has  been  already  pub- 
lished on  this  grand  controversy,  which  now  threatens  a 
final  separation  of  the  colonies  from  Great  Britain.  But 
can  the  amazing  national  debt  be  paid  by  a  little  trifling 
sum,  squeezed  from  year  to  year  out  of  America,  which  is 
continually  drained  of  all  its  cash  by  a  restricted  trade 
with  the  parent  country,  and  which  in  this  way  is  taxed 
to  the  government  of  Britain  in  a  very  large  proportion  ? 
Would  it  not  be  much  superior  wisdom,  and  sounder  pol- 
icy, for  a  distressed  kingdom  to  retrench  the  vast  unneces- 

1  This  contemporary  observation  of  the  English  government  of  that 
period  shows  the  watchful  eye  of  the  colonists  on  the  administration;  and 
by  it  we  can  better  appreciate  their  masterly  conduct  of  public  affairs,  and 
their  superiority  over  the  British  statesmen.  England  knew  not  her 
colonists,  but  she  was  known  of  them.  —  Ed. 

21* 


246  THE   ELECTION    SERMON 

sary  expenses  continually  incurred  by  its  enormous  vices ; 
to  stop  the  prodigious  sums  paid  in  pensions,  and  to  num- 
berless officers,  without  the  least  advantage  to  the  public; 
to  reduce  the  number  of  devouring  servants  in  the  great 
family ;  to  turn  their  minds  from  the  pursuit  of  pleasure 
and  the  boundless  luxuries  of  life  to  the  important  inter- 
ests of  their  country  and  the  salvation  of  the  common- 
wealth? Would  not  a  reverend  regard  to  the  authority 
of  divine  revelation,  a  hearty  belief  of  the  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God,  and  a  general  reformation  of  all  those  vices 
which  bring  misery  and  ruin  upon  individuals,  families,  and 
kingdoms,  and  which  have  provoked  Heaven  to  bring  the 
nation  into  such  perplexed  and  dangerous  circumstances, 
be  the  surest  way  to  recover  the  sinking  state,  and  make  it 
again  rich  and  flourishing?  Millions  might  annually  be 
saved  if  the  kingdom  were  generally  and  thoroughly  re- 
formed ;  and  the  public  debt,  great  as  it  is,  might  in  a  few 
years  be  cancelled  by  a  growing  revenue,  which  now 
amounts  to  full  ten  millions  per  annum,  without  laying 
additional  burdens  on  any  of  the  subjects.  But  the 
demands  of  corruption  are  constantly  increasing,  and  will 
forever  exceed  all  the  resources  of  wealth  which  the  wit 
of  man  can  invent  or  tyranny  impose. 

Into  what  fatal  policy  has  the  nation  been  impelled,  by 
its  public  vices,  to  wage  a  cruel  war  with  its  own  chil- 
dren in  these  colonies,  only  to  gratify  the  lust  of  power 
and  the  demands  of  extravagance  !  May  God,  in  his  great 
mercy,  recover  Great  Britain  from  this  fatal  infatuation, 
show  them  their  errors,  and  give  them  a  spirit  of  reforma- 
tion, before  it  is  too  late  to  avert  impending  destruction  ! 
May  the  eyes  of  the  king  be  opened  to  see  the  ruinous 
tendency  of  the  measures  into  which  he  has  been  led,  and 
his  heart  inclined  to  treat  his  American  subjects  with  jus- 
tice and  clemency,  instead  of  forcing  them  still  further  to 


AT  WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  247 

the  last  extremities!  God  grant  some  method  may  be 
found  out  to  effect  a  happy  reconciliation,  so  that  the  col- 
onies may  again  enjoy  the  protection  of  their  sovereign, 
with  perfect  security  of  all  their  natural  rights  and  civil 
and  religious  liberties. 

But,  alas!  have  not  the  sins  of  America,  and  of  New 
England  in  particular,  had  a  hand  in  bringing  down  upon 
us  the  righteous  judgments  of  Heaven?  Wherefore  is  all 
this  evil  come  upon  us  ?  Is  it  not  because  we  have  forsaken 
the  Lord?  Can  we  say  we  are  innocent  of  crimes  against 
God?  No,  surely.  It  becomes  us  to  humble  ourselves 
under  his  mighty  hand,  that  he  may  exalt  us  in  due  time. 
However  unjustly  and  cruelly  we  have  been  treated  by 
man,  we  certainly  deserve,  at  the  hand  of  God,  all  the 
calamities  in  which  we  are  now  involved.  Have  we  not 
lost  much  of  that  spirit  of  genuine  Christianity  which  so 
remarkably  appeared  in  our  ancestors,  for  which  God  dis- 
tinguished them  with  the  signal  favors  of  providence 
when  they  fled  from  tyranny  and  persecution  into  this 
western  desert?  Have  we  not  departed  from  their  virtues? 
Though  I  hope  and  am  confident  that  as  much  true  reli- 
gion, agreeable  to  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  gospel, 
remains  among  us  as  among  any  people  in  the  world,  yet, 
in  the  midst  of  the  present  great  apostasy  of  the  nations 
professing  Christianity,  have  not  we  likewise  been  guilty 
of  departing  from  the  living  God?  Have  we  not  made 
light  of  the  gospel  of  salvation,  and  too  much  affected  the 
cold,  formal,  fashionable  religion  of  countries  grown  old  in 
vice,  and  overspread  with  infidelity?  Do  not  our  follies 
and  iniquities  testify  against  us  ?  Have  we  not,  especially 
in  our  seaports,  gone  much  too  far  into  the  pride  and  lux- 
uries of  life?  Is  it  not  a  fact,  open  to  common  observation, 
that  profaneness,  intemperance,  unchastity,  the  love  of 
pleasure,  fraud,  avarice,  and   other  vices,  are   increasing 


248  THE   ELECTION   SERMON 

among  us  from  year  to  year  ?  And  have  not  even  these 
young  governments  been  in  some  measure  infected  with 
the  corruptions  of  European  courts  ?  Has  there  been  no 
flattery,  no  bribery,  no  artifices  practised,  to  get  into 
places  of  honor  and  profit,  or  carry  a  vote  to  serve  a  par- 
ticular interest,  without  regard  to  right  or  wrong?  Have 
our  statesmen  always  acted  with  integrity,  and  every 
judge  with  impartiality,  in  the  fear  of  God  ?  In  short, 
have  all  ranks  of  men  showed  regard  to  the  divine  com- 
mands, and  joined  to  promote  the  Redeemer's  kingdom 
and  the  public  welfare  ?  I  wish  we  could  more  fully  justify 
ourselves  in  all  these  respects.  If  such  sins  have  not  been 
so  notorious  among  us  as  in  older  countries,  we  must 
nevertheless  remember  that  the  sins  of  a  people  who  have 
been  remarkable  for  the  profession  of  godliness,  are  more 
aggravated  by  all  the  advantages  and  favors  they  have 
enjoyed,  and  will  receive  more  speedy  and  signal  punish- 
ment ;  as  God  says  of  Israel :  "  You  only  have  I  known 
of  all  the  families  of  the  earth,  therefore  will  I  punish  you 
for  all  your  iniquities.* 

The  judgments  now  come  upon  us  are  very  heavy  and 
distressing,  and  have  fallen  with  peculiar  weight  on  our 
capital,  where,  notwithstanding  the  plighted  honor  of  the 
chief  commander  of  the  hostile  troops,  many  of  our  breth- 
ren are  still  detained,  as  if  they  were  captives  ;^  and  those 
that  have  been  released  have  left  the  principal  part  of 
their  substance,  which  is  withheld,  by  arbitrary  orders, 
contrary  to  an  express  treaty,  to  be  plundered  by  the 
army.^ 

a  Amos  iii.  2. 

b  Soon  after  tlie  battle  at  Concord,  General  Gage  stipulated,  with  the  select- 
men of  Boston,  that  if  the  inhabitants  would  deliver  up  their  arms,  to  be  depos- 

1  One  apolo}^y  for  this  bad  faith  was,  that  if  only  tory  interests  remained 
in  Boston  the  patriots  Avould  fire  the  town.  It  occasioned  extreme  anxi- 
ety and  suffering.  —  Frothingham,  93-9G.  — Ed. 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  249 

Let  me  address  you  in  the  words  of  the  prophet :  "  O 
Israel !  return  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  for  thou  hast  fallen 
by  thine  iniquity."  My  brethren,  let  us  repent,  and  implore 
the  divine  mercy  ;  let  us  amend  our  ways  and  our  doings, 
reform  everything  which  has  been  provoking  to  the  Most 
High,  and  thus  endeavor  to  obtain  the  gracious  interposi- 
tions of  Providence  for  our  deliverance. 

If  true  religion  is  revived  by  means  of  these  public 
calamities,  and  again  prevails  among  us, —  if  it  appears  in 
our  religious  assemblies,  in  the  conduct  of  our  civil  affairs, 
in  our  armies,  in  our  families,  in  all  our  business  and  con- 
versation, —  we  may  hope  for  the  direction  and  blessing 
of  the  Most  High,  while  we  are  using  our  best  endeavors 
to  preserve  and  restore  the  civil  government  of  this  colony, 
and  defend  America  from  slavery. 

Our  late  happy  government  is  changed  into  the  terrors 
of  military  execution.  Our  firm  opposition  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  arbitrary  system  is  called  rebellion,  and  we 
are  to  expect  no  mercy,  but  to  yield  property  and  life  at 
discretion.  This  we  are  resolved  at  all  events  not  to  do, 
and  therefore  we  have  taken  up  arms  in  our  own  defence, 
and  all  the  colonies  are  united  in  the  great  cause  of  liberty. 

But  how  shall  we  live  while  civil  government  is  dis- 


ited  in  Fanueil  Hall,  and  returned  -when  circumstances  would  permit,  they 
should  have  liberty  to  quit  the  town,  and  take  with  thera  their  effects.  They 
readily  complied,  but  soon  found  themselves  abused.  With  great  difficulty,  and 
very  slowly,  they  obtain  passes,  but  are  forbidden  to  carry  out  anything  besides 
household  furniture  and  wearing  apparel.  Merchants  and  shopkeepers  are 
obliged  to  leave  behind  all  their  merchandise,  and  even  their  cash  is  detained. 
Mechanics  are  not  allowed  to  bring  out  the  most  necessary  tools  for  their  work. 
Not  only  tiieir  family  stores  of  provisions  are  stopped,  but  it  has  been  repeat- 
edly and  credibly  affirmed  that  poor  women  and  children  have  had  the  very 
smallest  articles  of  this  kind  taken  from  them,  which  were  necessary  for  their 
refreshment  while  they  travelled  a  few  miles  to  their  friends;  and  that  even 
from  young  children,  in  their  mothers'  arms,  the  cruel  soldiery  have  taken  the 
morj;el  of  bread  given  to  prevent  their  crying,  and  thrown  it  away.  How  much 
better  for  the  inhabitants  to  have  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  defend  themselves 
by  their  arms  against  such  an  enemy,  than  suffer  such  shameful  abuse! 


250  THE   ELECTION   SERMON 

solved  ?  What  shall  we  do  without  counsellors  and 
judges?  A  state  of  absolute  anarchy  is  dreadful.  Sub- 
mission to  the  tyranny  of  hundreds  of  imperious  masters, 
firmly  embodied  against  us,  and  united  in  the  same  cruel 
design  of  disposing  of  our  lives  and  subsistence  at  their 
pleasure,  and  making  their  own  will  our  law  in  all  cases 
w^hatsoever,  is  the  vilest  slavery,  and  worse  than  death. 

Thanks  be  to  God  that  he  has  given  us,  as  men,  natural 
rights,  independent  on  all  human  laws  whatever,  and  that 
these  rights  are  recognized  by  the  grand  charter  of  British 
liberties.  By  the  law  of  nature,  any  body  of  people,  desti- 
tute of  order  and  government,  may  form  themselves  into 
a  civil  society,  according  to  their  best  prudence,  and  so 
provide  for  their  common  safety  and  advantage.  When 
one  form  is  found  by  the  majority  not  to  answer  the  grand 
purpose  in  any  tolerable  degree,  they  may,  by  common  con- 
sent, put  an  end  to  it  and  set  up  another,  —  only,  as  all 
such  great  changes  are  attended  with  difficulty  and  danger 
of  confusion,  they  ought  not  to  be  attempted  without 
urgent  necessity,  which  will  be  determined  always  by  the 
general  voice  of  the  wisest  and  best  members  of  the  com- 
munity. 

If  the  great  servants  of  the  public  forget  their  duty, 
betray  their  trust,  and  sell  their  country,  or  make  war 
against  the  most  valuable  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
people,  reason  and  justice  require  that  they  should  be 
discarded,  and  others  appointed  in  their  room,  without 
any  regard  to  formal  resignations  of  their  forfeited  power. 

It  must  be  ascribed  to  some  supernatural  influence  on 
the  minds  of  the  main  body  of  the  people  through  this 
extensive  continent,  that  they  have  so  universally  adopted 
the  method  of  managing  the  important  matters  neces- 
sary to  preserve  among  them  a  free  government  by  corre- 
sponding committees    and   congresses,  consisting  of  the 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  251 

wisest  and  most  disinterested  patriots  in  America,  chosen 
by  the  unbiased  suffrages  of  the  people  assembled  for  that 
purpose  in  their  several  towns,  counties,  and  provinces. 
So  general  agreement,  through  so  many  provinces  of  so 
large  a  country,  in  one  mode  of  self-preservation,  is  unex- 
ampled in  any  history ;  and  the  effect  has  exceeded  our 
most  sanguine  expectations.  Universal  tumults,  and  all 
the  irregularities  and  violence  of  mobbish  factions,  natu- 
rally arise  when  legal  authority  ceases.  But  how  little 
of  this  has  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  late  obstructions 
of  civil  government !  —  nothing  more  than  what  has  often 
happened  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  the  face  of  the 
civil  powers  in  all  their  strength ;  nothing  more  than 
what  is  frequently  seen  in  the  midst  of  the  perfect  regula- 
tions of  the  great  city  of  London ;  and,  may  I  not  add, 
nothing  more  than  has  been  absolutely  necessary  to  carry 
into  execution  the  spirited  resolutions  of  a  people  too 
sensible  to  deliver  themselves  up  to  oppression  and 
slavery.  The  judgment  and  advice  of  the  continental 
assembly  of  delegates  have  been  as  readily  obeyed  as  if 
they  were  authentic  acts  of  a  long-established  Parliament. 
And  in  every  colony  the  votes  of  a  congress  have  had 
equal  effect  with  the  laws  of  great  and  general  courts. 

It  is  now  ten  months  since ^  this  colony  has  been  de- 
prived of  the  benefit  of  that  government  which  was  so 
long  enjoyed  by  charter.  They  have  had  no  General 
Assembly  formatters  of  legislation  and  the  public  revenue ; 
the  courts  of  justice  have  been  shut  up,^  and  almost  the 


1  Since  July  17,  1774,  when  the  General  Court  at  Salem  closed  the  door 
against  the  secretary  sent  by  Governor  Gage  to  dissolve  the  Assembly, 
chose  Thomas  Gushing,  Samuel  Adams,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  James  Bow- 
doin,  and  John  Adams,  delegates  to  a  congress  of  the  colonies,  passed 
resolves,  and  separated.  — Ed. 

2  The  power  of  public  opinion  in  preserving  order  and  safety  during  the 


252  THE   ELECTION    SERIMON 

whole  executive  power  has  ceased  to  act ;  yet  order  among 
the  people  has  been  remarkably  preserved.     Few  crimes 


period  from  the  time  when  the  kin<r's  courts  and  mapstrates  —  all  legal 
authority  —  ceased  to  act,  till  the  accession  of  constitutional  authority,  — 
a  phenomenon  Avhich  excited  the  admiration  of  the  world,  —  is  finely  illus- 
trated in  Mr.  Freeman's  account  of  the  proceedings  in  Barnstable  county, 
"  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  September,"  1774.  As  there  might  be  appeals 
from  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  to  the  Superior  Court,  the  Chief  Justice 
of  which,  Hutchinson,  had  accepted  a  salary  from  the  crown,  the  people 
suppressed  the  sessions  of  that  court  throughout  the  province,  except  in 
Boston,  where  they  were  not  in  power.  Fifteen  hundred  of  the  people  of 
Barnstable,  Plymouth,  and  Bristol  counties,  thoroughly  organized,  met  in 
front  of  the  court-house,  at  Barnstable,  and,  through  their  conductor-in- 
chief,  Dr.  Nathaniel  Freeman,  of  Sandwich,  addressed  Colonel  Otis,  the 
venerable  Chief  Justice :  .  .  .  "  Our  safety,  all  that  is  dear  to  us,  and 
the  welfare  of  unborn  millions,  have  directed  this  movement  to  prevent  the 
court  from  being  opened  or  doing  any  business.  We  have  taken  all  the  con- 
sequences into  consideration;  we  have  weighed  them  well,  and  have 
formed  this  resolution,  which  we  shall  not  rescind."  The  Chief  Justice  then 
calmly  but  firmly  replied:  "This  is  a  legal  and  a  constitutional  court;  it 
has  suff'ered  no  mutations;  the  juries  have  been  dra^^^l  from  the  boxes  as 
the  law  directs;  and  why  would  you  Interrupt  its  proceedings? — why 
do  you  make  a  leap  before  you  get  to  the  hedge?"  Dr.  Freeman  re- 
sponded: "All  this  has  been  considered.  We  do  not  appear  out  of  any  dis- 
respect to  this  honorable  court,  nor  do  we  apprehend  that  if  you  proceed  to 
business  you  will  do  anything  that  we  could  censure.  But,  sir,  from  all 
the  decisions  of  this  court,  of  more  than  forty  shillings'  amount,  an  appeal 
lies;  an  appeal  to  what?  — to  a  court  holding  ofllee  during  the  king's 
pleasure,  —  a  court  over  which  we  have  no  control  or  influence,  —  a  court 
paid  out  of  the  revenue  that  is  extorted  from  us  by  the  illegal  and  unconsti- 
tutional edict  of  foreign  despotism,  —  and  there  the  jury  will  be  appointed 
by  the  sheriff.  For  this  reason  we  have  adopted  this  method  of  stopping  the 
avenue  through  which  business  may  otherwise  pass  to  that  tribunal,  —  well 
knowing  that  if  they  have  no  business  they  can  do  us  no  harm."  The 
Chief  Justice  then  said:  "As  is  my  duty,  I  now,  in  his  Majesty's  name, 
order  you  immediately  to  disperse,  and  give  the  court  the  opportunity  to  per- 
form the  business  of  the  county."  Dr.  Freeman  replied:  "  We  thank  your 
Honor  for  having  done  TOUR  duty :  we  shall  coxtikue  to  perform 
OURS."  The  court  then  turned  and  repaired  to  the  house  where  they  had 
put  up. 
This  was  supposed  to  be  the  first  overt  act  of  treason,  done  deliber- 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  253 

have  been  committecl,  punishable  by  the  judge  ;  even  for- 
mer contentions  betwixt  one  neighbor  and  another  have 


atelv,  in  the  face  of  day.  The  soleranitv  and  sense  of  right  which  gov- 
erned the  people,  and  which  was  a  characteristic  of  tlie  revolutionary 
period,  was  grandly  exhibited  in  their  code  of  regulations  adopted  on  this 
occasion.     We  give  their  own  words : 

"  Whereas  a  strict  adherence  to  virtue  and  religion  is  not  only  well- 
pleasing  in  the  sight  of  Almighty  God,  and  highly  commendable  before 
men,  but  hath  a  natural  tendency  to  good  order,  and  to  lead  mankind  in 
the  paths  of  light  and  truth : 

"  Therefore,  Resolved,  That  we  will  ,  .  .  avoid  all  kinds  of  intemper- 
ance b}'  strong  liquors,  and  no  otherwise  frequent  the  taverns  than  for 
necessary  entertainment  and  refreshment;  that  we  will  not  swear  pro- 
fanely, or  abuse  our  superiors,  equals,  or  inferiors,  by  any  ill  or  opprobri- 
ous language;  that  we  will  not  invade  the  property  of  any,  or  take  of  their 
goods  or  estate  without  their  leave  or  consent ;  that  we  will  not  offer  violence 
to  any  persons,  or  use  any  threatening  words,  otherwise  than  such  as  shall 
be  approved  of  and  accounted  necessary  by  our  community  for  the  accom- 
plishing the  errand  we  go  upon;  and  that  we  will  carefully  observe  an 
orderly,  circumspect,  and  civil  beliavior,  as  well  towards  strangers  and 
all  others  as  towards  those  of  our  own  fellowship. 

"  Resolved,  That  Messrs.  Aaron  Barlow,  Nathaniel  Briggs,  James  Foster, 
Joseph  Haskell,  3d,  John  Doty,  Judah  Scars,  Jr.,  Stephen  Wing,  and 
John  Pitcher,  be  a  committee  to  hear  and  determine  all  offences  against 
morality,  decency,  and  good  manners,  that  shall  be  complained  of,  .  .  . 
with  power  to  call  before  them,  examine,  acquit,  or  punish,  according  to 
the  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  offence 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will,  during  the  time  of  our  said  enterprise,  aid, 
protect,  and  support  our  said  committee  in  the  full  and  free  discharge  of 
their  duty  and  office,  and  use  our  most  careful  endeavors  for  the  punish- 
ment of  all  offenders. 

"And,  forasmuch  as  these  our  public  transactions  are  of  a  public  nature, 
and,  as  we  apprehend,  laudable;  and  as  we  have  no  private  interest  to 
serve,  or  anything  in  view  but  the  good  of  our  country  and  its  common 
cause : 

"  Therefore,  Voted,  That  these  resolves  be  read  once  every  day,  at  some 
convenient  time  and  place,  during  our  transitory  state  and  temporary  fel- 
lowship, —  so  that  our  righteousness  may  plead  our  cause,  and  bear  a  pub- 
lic testimony  that  we  are  neither  friends  to  mobs,  or  riots,  or  any  other 
wickedness  or  abomination. 

"And,  lastly,  we  Resolve,  That  we  ^ill  yield  all  due  respect  and  obedi- 

22 


254  THE  ELECTION   SERMON 

ceased  ;  nor  have  fraud  and  rapine  taken  advantage  of  the 
imbecility  of  the  civil  powers. 

The  necessary  preparations  for  the  defence  of  our  liber- 
ties required  not  only  the  collected  wisdom  and  strength 
of  the  colony,  but  an  immediate,  cheei-ful  application  of 
the  wealth  of  individuals  to  the  public  service,  in  due 
proportion,  or  a  taxation  which  depended  on  general  con- 
sent. Where  was  the  authority  to  vote,  collect,  or  receive 
the  large  sums  required,  and  make  provision  for  the  utmost 
extremities?  A  Congress  succeeded  to  the  honors  of  a 
General  Assembly  as  soon  as  the  latter  was  crushed  by 
the  hand  of  power.  It  gained  all  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  Wisdom  and  prudence  secured  all  that  the  laws 
of  the  former  constitution  could  have  given ;  and  we  now 
observe  with  astonishment  an  army  of  many  thousands 
of  well-disciplined  troops  suddenly  assembled,  and  abun- 
dantly furnished  with  all  necessary  supplies,  in  defence  of 
the  liberties  of  America. 

But  is  it  proper  or  safe  for  the  colony  to  continue  much 
longer  in  such  imperfect  order?  Must  it  not  appear 
rational  and  necessary,  to  every  man  that  understands  the 
various  movements  requisite  to  good  government,  that  the 
many  parts  should  be  properly  settled,  and  every  branch 
of  the  legislative  and  executive  authority  restored  to  that 
order  and  vigor  on  which  the  life  and  health  of  the  body 


encc  to  those  persons  whom  we  shall  choose  and  appoint  for  our  officers 
and  leaders,"  etc.  —  "History  of  Cape  Cod,"  by  Rev.  Frederick  Freeman, 
Boston,  1860;  a  work  of  great  value  and  interest,  of  which  chapters  xix. 
XX.  are  additional  to  previous  materials,  and  supply  a  passage  in  the  moral 
history  of  the  people  the  most  difficult  to  be  preserved. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  March,  1775,  reflecting  on  this  singular  spectacle  of  a 
people  remaining  in  perfect  order  without  a  public  council,  judges,  or  ex- 
ecutive magistrates,  said:  "Obedience  is  what  makes  government,  and 
not  the  names  by  which  it  is  called;  not  the  name  of  governor,  as  for- 
merly, or  committee,  as  at  present." — Ed. 


AT  WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  255 

politic  depend?  To  the  honorable  gentlemen  now  met 
in  this  new  congress  as  the  fathers  of  the  people,  tliis 
weighty  matter  must  be  referred.  Who  knows  but  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  distresses  of  the  present  war  to  defeat  the 
attempts  of  arbitrary  power,  God  may  in  mercy  restore 
to  us  our  judges  as  at  the  first,  and  our  counsellors  as  at 
the  beginning  ? 

On  your  wisdom,  religion,  and  public  spirit,  honored 
gentlemen,  we  depend,  to  determine  what  may  be  done  as 
to  the  important  matter  of  reviving  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  settling  all  necessary  affairs  relating  to  it  in  the 
present  critical  state  of  things,  that  we  may  again  have 
law  and  justice,  and  avoid  the  danger  of  anarchy  and  con- 
fusion. May  God  be  with  you,  and  by  the  influences  of 
his  Spirit  direct  all  your  counsels  and  resolutions  for  the 
glory  of  his  name  and  the  safety  and  happiness  of  this 
colony.  We  have  great  reason  to  acknowledge  with 
thankfulness  the  evident  tokens  of  the  Divine  presence 
with  the  former  congress,  that  they  were  led  to  foresee 
present  exigencies,  and  make  such  effectual  provision  for 
them.  It  is  our  earnest  prayer  to  the  Father  of  Lights 
that  he  would  irradiate  your  minds,  make  all  your  way 
plain,  and  grant  you  may  be  happy  instruments  of  many 
and  great  blessings  to  the  people  by  whom  you  are  consti- 
tuted, to  New  England,  and  all  the  united  colonies. 

Let  us  praise  ourGod^  for  the  advantages  already  given 
us  over  the  enemies  of  liberty,  particularly  that  they  have 
been  so  dispirited  by  repeated  experience  of  the  efficacy 
of  our  arms ;  and  that,  in  the  late  action  at  Chelsea,  when 
several  hundreds  of  our  soldiery,  the  greater  part  open  to 

1  Governor  Gage,  in  his  proclamation  of  June  12,  1775,  a  few  days  after 
Dr.  Langdon's  sermon  was  preached,  said :  "  To  complete  the  horrid  pro- 
fanation of  terms  and  of  ideas,  the  name  of  God  has  been  introduced  in 
the  pulpits  to  excite  and  justify  devastation  and  massacre." — Ed. 


256  THE    ELECTION   SERMON 

the  fire  of  so  many  cannon,  swivels,  and  muskets,  from  a 
battery  advantageously  situated, — from  two  armed  cuttei'S, 
and  many  barges  full  of  marines,  and  from  ships  of  the 
line  in  the  harbor,  —  not  one  man  on  our  side  was  killed, 
and  but  two  or  three  wounded ;  when,  by  the  best  intelli- 
gence, a  great  number  were  killed  and  wounded  on  the 
other  side,  and  one  of  their  cutters  was  taken  and  burnt, 
the  other  narrowly  escaping  with  great  damage."* 

If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  The  enemy 
has  reproached  us  for  calling  on  his  name,  and  professing 
our  trust  in  him.  They  have  made  a  mock  of  our  solemn 
fasts,  and  every  appearance  of  serious  Christianity  in  the 
land.  On  this  account,  by  way  of  contempt,  they  call  us 
saints  ;  and  that  they  themselves  may  keep  at  the  greatest 
distance  from  this  character,  their  mouths  are  full  of  horrid 
blasphemies,  cursing,  and  bitterness,  and  vent  all  the  rage 
of  malice  and  barbarity.  And  may  we  not  be  confident 
that  the  Most  High,  who  regards  these  things,  will  vindi- 
cate his  own  honor,  and  plead  our  righteous  cause  against 
such  enemies  to  his  government,  as  well  as  our  liberties  ? 
O,  may  our  camp  be  fi-ee  from  every  accursed  thing !  May 
our  land  be  j^urged  from  all  its  sins  !  May  we  be  truly  a 
holy  peoi^le,  and  all  our  towns  cities  of  righteousness! 


a  This  action  was  in  the  night  following  the  twenty-seventh  current,  after  our 
soldiery  had  been  taking  off  the  cattle  from  some  islands  in  Boston  harbor.  By 
the  best  information  we  have  been  able  to  procure,  about  one  hundred  and  five 
of  the  king's  troops  were  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  wounded,  in  the 
engagement.! 

1  Frothingham,  pp.  109,  110,  says  this  was  magnified  into  a  battle,  and 
dwelt  upon  with  great  exultation  throughout  the  colonies.  The  loss  of  the 
enemy  was  probably  exaggerated.  —  Gordon,  Letter  xiv. 

Mr.  Mansfield,  in  his  Thanksgiving  Sermon  at  Roxbury,  November  23, 
1775,  said:  "  Providence  has  likewise  smiled  upon  the  camp,  in  permitting 
so  few  fatal  accidents,  and  evidently  been  its  safeguard."  He  says:  "I 
am  informed  that  by  means  of  upwards  two  thousand  balls  that  have 
been  thrown  from  the  opposite  lines,  five  men  only  have  been  taken  off! 


AT   WATERTOWN,   MAY  31,  1775.  257 

Then  the  Lord  will  be  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very- 
present  help  in  trouble,  and  we  shall  have  no  reason  to 
be  afraid  thous^h  thousands  of  enemies  set  themselves 
against  us  round  about,  —  though  all  nature  should  be 
thrown  into  tumults  and  convulsions.  He  can  command 
the  stars  in  their  courses  to  fight  his  battles,  and 'all  the 
elements  to  wage  war  with  his  enemies.  He  can  destroy 
them  with  innumerable  plagues,  or  send  faintness  into 
their  hearts,  so  that  the  men  of  might  shall  not  find  their 
hands.  In  a  variety  of  methods  he  can  work  salvation  for 
us,  as  he  did  for  his  people  in  ancient  days,  and  according 
to  the  many  remarkable  deliverances  granted  in  former 
times  to  Great  Britain  and  New  England  when  popish 
machinations  threatened  both  countries  with  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  tyranny.* 


ft  When  we  consider  the  late  Canada  Bill,  which  implies  not  merely  a  tolera- 
tion of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  (which  would  be  just  and  liberal),  but  a  tirm 
establishment  of  it  through  that  extensive  province,  now  greatly  enlarged  to 
serve  political  purposes,  by  which  means  multitudes  of  people,  subjects  of  Great 
Britain,  which  may  hereafter  settle  that  vast  country,  will  be  tempted,  by  all  the 
attachments  arising  from  an  establishment,  to  profess  that  religion,  or  be  dis- 
couraged from  any  endeavors  to  propagate  reformed  principles,  have  we  not 
great  reason  to  suspect  that  all  the  late  measures  respecting  the  colonies  have 
originated  from  popish  schemes  of  men  who  would  gladly  restore  the  race  of 
Stuart,  and  who  look  on  Popery  as  a  religion  most  favorable  to  arbitrary 
power?  It  is  a  plain  fact  that  despotism  has  an  establishment  in  that  province 
equally  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  governor,  with  a  council  very 
much  under  his  power,  has  by  his  commission  almost  unlimited  authority,  freo 
from  the  clog  of  representatives  of  the  people.  However  agreeable  this  may  be 
to  the  genius  of  the  French,  English  subjects  there  will  be  discouraged  from  con- 
tinuing in  a  country  where  both  they  and  their  posterity  will  be  deprived  of 
the  greatest  privileges  of  the  British  constitution,  and  in  many  respects  feel  the 
effects  of  absolute  monarchy. 

Lord  Littleton,  in  his  defence  of  this  detestable  statute,  frankly  concedes  that 

I  perceive  likewise  that  by  means  of  about  three  hundred  balls,  etc.,  thrown 
into  this  place" —  Roxbury  —  "  in  the  course  of  one  month,  viz.,  from 
September  3  to  October  3,  but  two  were  wounded  (one  but  slightly ;  the 
other  died,  after  some  time,  of  his  wound),  and  no  man  was  immediately 
killed!  It  is  to  be  remarked  further,  that  not  one  person  was  hurt,  in  the 
course  of  above  three  hundred  shells  being  thrown  to  a  fortress  erected 
upon  Ploughed  Hill,"  in  Charlestown.  —  Ed. 

22* 


258 


May  the  Lord  hear  us  in  this  day  of  trouble,  and  the 
name  of  the  God  of  Jacob  defend  us,  send  us  help  from 
his  sanctuary,  and  strengthen  us  out  of  Zion!  AYe  will 
rejoice  in  his  salvation,  and  in  the  name  of  our  God  we 
will  set  up  our  banners.  Let  us  look  to  him  to  fulfil  all 
our  petitions. 


it  is  an  establishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  that  part  of  the  pol- 
icy of  it  was  to  provide  a  check  upon  the  New  England  colonies.  And  the 
writer  of  an  address  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  the  inhabitants  of  Amer- 
ica, just  published,  expresses  himself  with  great  precision  when  he  says  "  that 
statute  gave  toleration  to  English  subjects."  i 

1  See  page  xxxi.  —  Ed. 


SERMON 

Preached  before  the 

Honorable  Council, 


And  the  honorable 

House   of  Representatives 

OF    the 

Colony    of  the    Massachusetts-Bay, 

IN 

New-England. 

MAY    29th,  1776. 
Being    the    Anniversary    for    the    Election   of 

THE    honorable     COUNCIL    FOR    THE    COLONY. 

By    SAMUEL   WEST,  A.M. 

Pastor  of  a  Church  in  Dartmouth. 

And  I  will  reftore  thy  judges  as  at  the  firft,  and  thy  coun- 
fellors  as  at  the  beginning  :  afterward  thou  fhalt  be 
called  the  city  of  righteoufnefs,  the  faithful  city,  Isa. 
4.  26.  Their  children  alfo  fhall  be  as  aforetime,  and 
their  congregations  fhall  be  eftablifhed  before  me,  and 
I  will  punifh  all  that  opprefs  them  :  and  their  nobles 
fliall  be  of  themfelves,  and  their  governor  fhall  proceed 
from  the  midfl  of  them,  Jere.  30.  20.  21.  As  free 
and  not  ufing  your  liberty  for  a  cloak  of  malicioufnefs, 
but  as  the  fervants  of  G  O  D,  i  Peter  2  16.  The 
beaft  that  thou  fawefl,  fhall  afcend  out  of  the  bottomlefs 
pit,  and  go  into  perdition  :  and  they  that  dwell  on  the 
earth  fhall  wonder,  whofe  names  were  not  written  in 
the  book  of  life  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
when  they  behold  the  beaft.  Rev.  17.  ver.  8. 

BOSTON: 

Printed   by   JOHN    GILL,   In    Queen-Street. 
1776. 


In  Council,  May  30, 1776. 

On  motion.  Ordered,  That  Thomas  Gushing,  Benjamin  Lincoln,  and  Moses 
Gill,  Esquires,  be  a  Committee  to  wait  on  Rev.  Mr.  "West,  and  return  him  the 
thanks  of  the  Board  for  his  Sermon  delivered  yesterday  before  both  Houses  of 
Assembly ;  and  to  request  a  copy  thereof  for  the  press, 

PEREZ  MORTON.  D.  SooroforTr 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  "  Provincial  Congress,"  or  provisional  government,  after  General 
Gage  was  renounced,  October  7,  1774,  and  before  which  President  Lang- 
don  preached  in  1775,  was  dissolved,  by  its  own  act,  July  19,  1775,  and 
on  the  same  day  was  convened  the  new  government,  "  The  Honorable 
Council  and  the  Honorable  House  of  Representatives,"  before  which  the 
Rev.  Mr.  West  now  preached.  This  step  in  political  progress  was  in- 
itiated in  this  way :  In  an  address,  May  16,  1775,  to  the  American  Con- 
gress at  Philadelphia,  —  "  the  representative  body  of  the  continent," — 
the  Massachusetts  "  Congress"  said:  "We  have  made  all  the  preparation 
for  our  necessary  defence  that  our  confused  state  would  admit  of;  and,  as 
the  question  equall}'  affected  our  sister  colonies  and  us,  we  have  declined, 
though  urged  thereto  by  the  most  pressing  necessity,  to  assume  the  reins 
of  civil  government  without  their  advice  and  consent.  .  .  .  We  are 
now  compelled  to  raise  an  army,  which,  with  the  assistance  of  the  other 
colonies,  we  hope,  under  the  smiles  of  Heaven,  will  be  able  to  defend  us, 
and  all  America,  from  the  further  butcheries  and  devastations  of  our  im- 
placable enemies.  .  .  .  We  hope  you  will  favor  us  -with  your  most 
explicit  advice  respecting  the  taking  up  and  exercising  the  powers  of  civil 
government.  ...  As  the  sword  should,  in  all  free  states,  be  subser- 
vient to  the  civil  powers,  ...  we  beg  leave  to  suggest  to  your  con- 
sideration the  propriety  of  your  taking  the  regulation  and  general  direction 
of  the  army." 

Upon  consideration  of  'this  application,  the;  Continental  Congress,  June 
9,  1775,  recommended  to  Massachusetts  "  to  conform  as  near  as  may 
be  to  the  spirit  and  substance  of  the  charter;  "  to  choose  an  assembly 
who  should  elect  councillors,  "  which  assembly  and  council  should  exercise 
the  powers  of  government  until  a  governor  of  his  Majesty's  appointment 
will  consent  to  govern  the  colony  according  to  its  charter."    This  form 


262  editor's  prefatory  note. 

was  continued  till  the  present  constitution  was  adopted,  in  1780,  and  John 
Hancock  chosen  governor.  Their  political  ideas  were  happily  expressed 
by  the  device  on  the  bills  of  public  a-edit,  of  August  18,  1775,  which  was 
the  figure  of  an  American,  with  a  sword  in  his  right  hand,  bearing  Alger- 
non Sydney's  celebrated  line,  "Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem," 
and  in  his  left  hand  Magna  Charta ;  around  the  figure,  "  Issued  in  Defence 
of  American  Liberty."  This,  modified,  is  emblazoned  on  the  shield  of 
the  "  Commonwealth ;  "  the  motto  is  still  retained ;  and  thus  Massachusetts 
displays  in  her  state  arras  a  memento  of  the  cost  of  her  liberty,  and  in 
the  legend  a  perpetual  memorial  of  her  historical  and  poUtical  fellowship 
with  that  eminent  school  of  republican  statesmen  of  which  Sydney,  with 
Russell,  was  the  glory,  and  whose  "  Discourses  on  Government "  was,  next 
after  the  Bible,  the  political  text-book  of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  Washington  entered  Cambridge  as  commander-in- 
chief.  The  speech  from  the  throne,  October  26,  1775,  announced  to  Par- 
liament actual  "  rebellion"  i  in  the  colonies,  and  that  the  naval  and  land 
forces  had  been  greatly  augmented,  and  set  forth  the  necessity  of  suf- 
ficient force  to  suppress  it.  A  bill  was  introduced  interdicting  all  trade 
with  the  thirteen  united  colonies,  and  authorizing  the  capture  of  their 
property  on  the  ocean.  The  Continental  Congress  retaliated  by  issuing 
letters  of  marque  to  cruise  against  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  and  by 
permitting  trade  with  all  the  world  but  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

The  New  England  "  Thanksgiving  "—  the  glad  observance  of  which  is 
now  extended  to  nearly  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  even  to  the  Pacific  — 
was  not  omitted  even  in  the  gloomiest  days  of  the  struggle.  The  proc- 
lamation for  that  anniversary  in  Massachusetts,  intervening  half  way 
between  the  "election-days"  of  1775  and  1776, is  here  given,  as  the  object 
of  this  volume  is  to  repi'oduce  the  facts,  thoughts,  and  emotions  of  the 
days  of  the  Revolution,  as  then  expressed,  —  for  contemporary  pictures 
|re  always  the  most  faithful. 

A   rROCLAMATION 

rOR  A  PUBLIC  THANKSGIVING. 

Although,  in  consequence  of  the  unnatural,  cruel,  and  barbarous  Meas- 
ures adopted  and  pursued  by  the  British  Administration,  great  and  dis- 
tressing Calamities  are  brought  upon  our  oppressed  Country,  and  on  this 

1  See  pp.  75,  note  1,  and  93— 95w 


263 


C!olony  in  particular;  we  feel  the  dreadful  Effects  of  Civil  War,  by  which 
America  is  stained  with  the  Blood  of  her  valiant  Sons,  who  have  bravely 
fallen  in  the  laudable  Defence  of  our  Rights  and  Privileges;  —  Our  Cap- 
ital, once  the  Seat  of  Justice,  Opulence,  and  Virtue,  is  unjustly  wrested 
from  its  proper  Owners,  who  are  obliged  to  flee  from  the  Iron  Hand  of 
Tyranny,  or  are  held  in  the  unrelenting  Arms  of  Oppression;  —  Our  Sea- 
ports greatly  distressed,  and  Towns  burnt  by  the  Foes,  who  have  acted 
the  Part  of  barbarous  Incendiaries.  And  although  the  wise  and  holy 
Governor  of  the  "World  has  in  his  righteous  Providence  sent  Droughts 
into  this  Colony,  and  wasting  Sickness  into  many  of  our  Towns,  yet  we 
have  the  gi-eatest  Reason  to  adore  and  praise  the  Supreme  Disposer  of 
Events,  who  deals  infinitely  better  with  us  than  we  deserve;  and,  amidst 
all  his  judgments,  hath  remembered  Mercy,  by  causing  the  Voice  of 
Health  again  to  be  heard  amongst  us :  Instead  of  Famine,  affording  to  an 
ungrateful  People  a  Competency  of  the  Necessaries  and  Comforts  of  Life; 
in  remarkably  preserving  and  protecting  our  Troops  when  in  apparent 
Danger,  while  our  Enemies,  with  all  their  boasted  Skill  and  Strength,  have 
met  with  Loss,  Disappointment,  and  Defeat ;  —  and,  in  the  Course  of  his 
good  Providence,  the  Father  of  Mercies  hath  bestowed  upon  us  many 
other  Favors,  which  call  for  our  grateful  Acknowledgments. 

Therefore,  We  have  thought  fit,  with  the  Advice  of  the  Council  and 
House  of  Representatives,  to  appoint  THURSDAY,  the  Twenty-third  Day 
of  November  Instant,  to  be  observed  as  a  Day  of  Public  THANKSGIV- 
ING, throughout  this  Colony;  hereby  calling  upon  Ministers  and  People 
to  meet  for  religious  Worship  on  said  Day,  and  devoutly  to  offer  up  their 
unfeigned  Praises  to  Almighty  GOD,  the  Source  and  benevolent  Bestower 
of  all  Good,  for  his  affording  the  necessary  Means  of  Subsistence,  though 
our  Commerce  has  been  prevented,  and  the  Supplies  from  the  Fishery 
been  denied  us;  —  That  such  a  Measure  of  Health  is  enjoyed  among  us;  — 
That  the  Lives  of  our  Oflicers  and  Soldiers  have  been  so  remarkably  pre- 
served, while  our  Enemies  have  fell  before  them ;  —  That  the  vigorous 
Efforts  which  have  been  used  to  excite  Savage  Vengeance  of  the  Wilder- 
ness, and  rouse  the  Indians  to  Arms,  that  an  unavoidable  Destruction 
might  come  upon  our  Frontiers,  have  been  almost  miraculously  defeated; 
—  That  our  unnatural  Enemies,  instead  of  Ravaging  the  Country  with  un- 
controlled Sway,  are  confined  within  such  narrow  Limits,  to  their  o^vn 
Mortification  and  Distress,  environed  by  an  American  Army,  brave  and 
determined;  —  That  such  a  Band  of  Union,  founded  upon  the  best  Prin- 
ciples, unites  the  American  Colonies :  —  That  our  Rights  and  Privileges, 


264  editor's  prefatory  note. 

both  Civil  and  Religious,  are  so  far  preserved  to  us,  notwithstanding  all 
the  Attempts  of  our  barbarous  Enemies  to  deprive  us  of  them. 

And  to  offer  up  humble  and  fervent  Prayers  to  Almighty  GOD,  for  the 
whole  British  Empire,  especially  for  the  UNITED  AMERICAN  COLO- 
NIES :  —  That  he  would  bless  our  Civil  Rulers  and  lead  them  into  wise 
and  Prudent  Measures  in  this  dark  and  difficult  Day :  —  That  he  would 
endow  our  General  Court  with  all  that  Wisdom  which  is  profitable  to 
direct :  —  That  he  would  gi*aciously  Smile  upon  our  Endeavors  to  restore 
Peace,  preserve  our  Rights  and  Privileges,  and  hand  them  down  to 
Posterity:  —  That  he  Avould  give  "Wisdom  to  the  American  Congress  equal 
to  their  important  Station:  —That  he  would  direct  the  Generals  and  the 
American  Armies,  wherever  employed,  and  give  them  Success  and  Vic- 
tory:—  That  he  would  preserve  and  strengthen  the  harmony  of  the 
UNITED  COLONIES:— That  he  would  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  all 
Orders  of  Men  through  the  Land,  bring  us  to  a  hearty  Repentance  and 
Reformation;  purify  and  sanctify  all  his  Churches :  — That  he  would 
make  Ours  Emanuel's  Land :  —  That  he  would  spread  the  Knowledge 
of  the  Redeemer  through  the  whole  Earth,  and  fill  the  World  with  his 
Glory,    All  servile  Labor  is  forbidden  on  said  Day. 

Given  under  our  hands  at  the  Council  Chamber  in  Watertown,  this 
Fourth  Day  of  November,  in  the  Year  of  the  LORD  One  Thousand  Seven 
Hundred  and  Seventy-five. 

By  their  Honors'  Command, 

PEREZ  MORTON,  Dep'y  Sec'ry. 
James  Otis,  Benjamin  Lincoln, 

W.  Spooner,  Michael  Farley, 

Caleb  Cusiiing,  Joseph  Palmer, 

Joseph  Gerrish,  Samuel  Holton, 

John  Whitcomb,  Jabez  Fisher, 

Jedediah  Foster,  Moses  Gill, 

James  Prescott,  Benjamin  White. 

Eldad  Taylor, 


(!5ob   ^nht  tl^t   ^jC0pk. 


So  the  clouds  of  war  gathered  rapidly  and  heavily,  and  the  Declaration 
of  July  Fourth  sundered  the  colonies  from  the  mother  country,  and  they 
became  a  nation. 


editor's  prefatory  note.  265 

Boston  having  been  evacuated  by  General  Howe,  March  17th,  the 
present  Legislature  was  convened,  as  in  former  days,  in  the  old  Town 
House,  or  State  House,  as  it  then  began  to  be  called.  The  sermon  was 
preached,  as  of  old,  in  the  "  old  brick  meeting-house"  near  by,  on  the 
site  which  had  been  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  ever  since  1G40. 
It  is  now  occupied  by  "  Joy's  Building." 

The  preacher,  Samuel  "West,  minister  of  Dartmouth,  was  not  behind 
his  professional  brethren  in  zeal  for  the  welfare  and  liberty  of  his  country, 
nor  in  vigorous  defence  of  her  rights,  both  in  the  pulpit  and  by  the  press. 
He  was  an  able  and  acute  reasoner,  and  distinguished  in  metaphysical 
speculations  with  the  Edwardses,  father  and  son.  The  present  Discourse 
was  specially  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  true  principles  of  govern- 
ment, and  a  close  application  of  them  to  Britain  and  her  colonies.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  for  forming  the  Constitution  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  of  that  of  1788,  which  ratified  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.    With  him  the  patriot  Otis  — 

*'  Favored  man,  by  touch  etbereal  slain"  — 

resided  for  a  while  after  his  retirement.  Dr.  West  was  born  at  Yarmouth, 
on  Cape  Cod,  March  4,  1730,  a  subject  of  George  II.,  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1754,  and  died  September  24,  1807,  aged  seventy-seven,  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States. 

The  texts  on  the  title-page  of  the  sermon  admirably  exhibit  the  political 
hopes  of  that  day,  the  wish  for  reconciliation  and  the  reestablishment  of 
the  old  relations  to  the  mother  country,  and  the  intensity  of  the  times. 

The  councillors  elected  for  the  memorable  year  1776  were  — 

For  the  late  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bat  : 
Hon.  James  Boavdoin,  Esq.;  Hon.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  Esq.; 

Artemas  Ward,  Esq.;  Samuel  Holton,  Esq.; 

Benj.  Greenleaf,  Esq. ;  Jabez  Fisher,  Esq. ; 

Caleb  Gushing,  Esq.;  Moses  Gill,  Esq.; 

John  Winthrop,  Esq.;  Benj.  White,  Esq.; 

Rich.  Derby,  Jun.,  Esq.;  W31,  Phillips,  Esq.; 

Thomas  Gushing,  Esq.;  -  Benj.  Austin,  Esq.; 

John  Whitcomb,  Esq.;  Eben.  Thayer,  Jun.,  Esq.; 

Eld  AD  Taylor,  Esq.;  Francis  Dane,  Esq. 

23 


266  editor's  prefatory  note.  .— - 

For  the  late  Colony  of  Xew  Plymouth  : 
Hon.  Wm.  Sever,  Esq.;  Hon.  Dan.  Davis,  Esq.; 

Walter  Spooxer,  Esq.;  Jos.  Cushixg,  Esq. 

For  the  Province  of  Maine  : 
Hon.  Jere.  Powell,  Esq.;  Hon.  David  Sewell,  Esq.; 

Hon.  Benj.  Chadbourn,  Esq. 

For  Sagadahock: 
Hon.  John  Taylor,  Esq. 
At  Large: 
Hon.  Henry  Gardner,  Esq. ;  Hon.  Daniel  Hopkins,  Esq. 

Previous  to  the  election  the  following    gentlemen,  who  were  of  the 
last  Council,  resigned  their  seats  at  the  Board,  viz. : 

Hon.  James  Otis,  Esq.;  Hon.  Enoch  Freeman,  Esq.; 

John  Adams,  Esq.;  Charles  Chauncy,  Esq.; 

Jedediah  Foster,  Esq.;  Joseph  Palmer,  Esq. 


DISCOURSE    YI 

ELECTION  SERMON. 


PUT    THEM    IX    MI>T)    TO    BE    SUBJECT    TO    PRi:XCIPALITIES    AKD    POWERS,  TO 
OBEY   MAGISTRATES,   TO  BE  READY  TO  EVERY  GOOD  "WORK.  —  TitUS  iii.  1. 


The  great  Creator,  having  designed  the  human  race  for 
society,  has  made  us  dependent  on  one  another  for  happi- 
ness. He  has  so  constituted  us  that  it  becomes  both  our 
duty  and  interest  to  seek  the  public  good ;  and  that  we 
may  be  the  more  firmly  engaged  to  promote  each  other's 
welfare,  the  Deity  has  endowed  us  with  tender  and  social 
affections,  with  generous  and  benevolent  principles :  hence 
the  pain  that  we  feel  in  seeing  an  object  of  distress ;  hence 
the  satisfaction  that  arises  in  relieving  the  afflictions,  and 
the  superior  pleasure  which  we  experience  in  communi- 
cating happiness  to  tlie  miserable.  The  Deity  has  also 
invested  us  with  moral  powers  and  faculties,  by  which  we 
are  enabled  to  discern  the  difference  between  right  and 
wrong,  truth  and  falsehood,  good  and  evil :  hence  the  ap- 
probation of  mind  that  arises  uj^on  doing  a  good  action, 
and  the  remorse  of  conscience  which  we  experience  when 
we  counteract  the  moral  sense  and  do  that  which  is  evil. 
This  proves  that,  in  what  is  commonly  called  a  state  of 
nature,  we  are  the  subjects  of  the  divine  law  and  govern- 
ment ;  that  the  Deity  is  our  supreme  magistrate,  Avho  has 
written  his  law  in  our  hearts,  and  will  reward  or  punish  us 
according  as  we  obey  or  disobey  his  commands.     Had  the 


268  THE    ELECTION    SERMON, 

human  race  uniformly  persevered  in  a  state  of  moral  recti- 
tude, there  would  have  been  little  or  no  need  of  any  other 
law  besides  that  wliich  is  written  in  the  heart,  — for  every 
one  in  such  a  state  would  be  a  law  unto  himself.  There 
could  be  no  occasion  for  enacting  or  enforcing  of  penal 
laws  ;  for  such  are  "  not  made  for  the  righteous  man,  but 
for  the  lawless  and  disobedient,  for  the  ungodly,  and  for 
sinners,  for  the  unholy  and  profane,  for  murderers  of 
fathers  and  murderers  of  mothers,  for  manslayers,  for 
whoremongers,  for  them  that  defile  themselves  with  man- 
kind, for  men-stealers,  for  liars,  for  perjured  persons,  and  if 
there  be  any  other  thing  that  is  contrary  to"  moral  recti- 
tude and  the  happiness  of  mankind.  The  necessity  of 
forming  ourselves  into  j^olitic  bodies,  and  granting  to  our 
rulers  a  j^ower  to  enact  laws  for  the  public  safety,  and  to 
enforce  them  by  proper  penalties,  arises  from  our  being  in 
a  fallen  and  degenerate  state.  The  slightest  view  of  the 
present  state  and  condition  of  the  human  race  is  abun- 
dantly sufficient  to  convince  any  person  of  common  sense 
and  common  honesty  that  civil  government  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  jDcace  and  safety  of  mankind  ;  and,  con- 
sequently, that  all  good  magistrates,  while  ^  they  faithfully 
discharge  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  ought  to  be  religiously 
and  conscientiously  obeyed.  An  enemy  to  good  govern- 
ment is  an  enemy  not  only  to  his  country,  but  to  all  man- 
kind ;  for  he  plainly  shows  himself  to  be  divested  of  those 
tender  and  social  sentiments  which  are  characteristic  of  a 
human  temper,  even  of  that  generous  and  benevolent  dis- 
position which  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  a  rational  creature. 
An  enemy  to  good  government  has  degraded  himself 
below  the  rank  and  dignity  of  a  man,  and  deserves  to  be 
classed  with  the  lower  creation.^  Hence  we  find  that  wise 
and  good  men,  of  all  nations  and  religions,  have  ever  incul- 

1  Sec  pp.  72,  75-77.  —  Ed.  2  gcc  pp.  09-74,  and  notes.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1776.  269 

cated  subjection  to  good  government,  and  have  borne  their 
testimony  against  the  licentious  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace. 

Nor  has  Christianity  been  deficient  in  this  capital  point. 
We  find  our  blessed  Saviour  directing  the  Jews  to  render 
to  Caesar  the  things  that  were  Csesar's ;  and  the  apostles 
and  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  not  only  exhibited  a  good 
example  of  subjection  to  the  magistrate,  in  all  things  that 
were  just  and  lawful,  but  they  have  also,  in  several  places 
in  the  New  Testament,  strongly  enjoined  upon  Christians 
the  duty  of  submission  to  that  government  under  which 
Providence  had  placed  them.  Hence  we  find  that  those 
who  despise  government,  and  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil 
of  dignities,  are,  by  the  apostles  Peter  and  Jude,  classed 
among  those  presumptuous,  self-willed  sinners  that  are  re- 
served to  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  And  the  apostle 
Paul  judged  submission  to  civil  government  to  be  a  mat- 
ter of  such  great  importance,  that  he  thought  it  worth  his 
while  to  charge  Titus  to  put  his  hearers  in  mind  to  be  sub- 
missive to  principalities  and  powers,  to  obey  magistrates, 
to  be  ready  to  every  good  work ;  as  much  as  to  say,  none 
can  be  ready  to  every  good  work,  or  be  properly  disposed 
to  perform  those  actions  that  tend  to  piomote  the  public 
good,  who  do  not  obey  magistrates,  and  who  do  not  become 
good  subjects  of  civil  government.^  If,  then,  obedience  to 
the  civil  magistrates  is  so  essential  to  the  character  of  a 
Christian,  that  without  it  he  cannot  be  disposed  to  perform 
those  good  works  that  are  necessary  for  the  welfare  of 
mankind, —  if  the  despisers  of  governments  are  those  pre- 
sumptuous, self-willed  sinners  who  are  reserved  to  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day,  —  it  is  certainly  a  matter  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  us  all  to  be  thoroughly  acquainted 

iSeepp.  54-61.  — Ed. 
23* 


270  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

with  the  nature  and  extent  of  our  duty,  that  we  may  yield 
the  obedience  required ;  for  it  is  impossible  that  we  should 
properly  discharge  a  duty  when  we  are  strangers  to  the 
nature  and  extent  of  it. 

In  order,  therefore,  that  we  may  form  a  right  judgment 
of  the  duty  enjoined  in  our  text,  I  shall  consider  the  nature 
and  design  of  civil  government,  and  shall  show  that  the 
same  principles  which  oblige  us  to  submit  to  government 
do  equally  oblige  us  to  resist  tyranny ;  or  that  tyranny  and 
magistracy  are  so  opposed  to  each  other  that  where  the 
one  begins  the  other  ends.'^  I  shall  then  apply  the  present 
discourse  to  the  grand  controversy  that  at  this  day  subsists 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  colonies. 

That  we  may  understand  the  nature  and  design  of  civil 
government,  and  discover  the  foundation  of  the  magis- 
trate's authority  to  command,  and  the  duty  of  subjects  to 
obey,  it  is  necessary  to  derive  civil  government  from  its 
original,  in  order  to  which  we  must  consider  what  "  state 
all  men  are  naturally  in,  and  that  is  (as  Mr.  Locke  ob- 
serves) a  state  of  perfect  freedom  to  order  all  their  ac- 
tions, and  dispose  of  their  possessions  and  persons  as  they 
think  fit,  within  the  bounds  of  the  law  of  nature,  without 
asking  leave  or  depending  upon  the  will  of  any  man."  It 
is  a  state  wherein  all  are  equal,  —  no  one  having  a  right  to 
control  another,  or  oppose  him  in  what  he  does,  unless  it 
be  in  his  own  defence,  or  in  the  defence  of  those  that, 
being  injured,  stand  in  need  of  his  assistance. 

Had  men  persevered  in  a  state  of  moral  rectitude,  every 
one  would  have  been  disposed  to  follow  the  law  of  na- 
ture, and  pursue  the  general  good.  In  such  a  state,  the 
wisest  and  most  experienced  would  undoubtedly  be  cho- 
sen to  guide  and  direct  those  of  less  wisdom  and  expe- 
rience than  themselves,  —  there   being  nothing   else  that 

1  Sec  pages  G2,  67  note  1;  09,  74,  note  1.  —Ed. 


PREACHED    AT    BOSTON,    1776.  271 

could  afford  the  least  show  or  appearance  of  any  one's  hav- 
ing the  superiority  or  precedency  over  another ;  for  the 
dictates  of  conscience  and  the  precepts  of  natural  law  be- 
ing uniformly  and  regularly  obeyed,  men  would  only  need 
to  be  informed  what  things  were  most  fit  and  prudent  to 
be  done  in  those  cases  where  their  inexperience  or  want 
of  acquaintance  left  their  minds  in  doubt  what  was  the 
wisest  and  most  regular  method  for  them  to  pursue.  In 
such  cases  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  advise  with 
those  who  were  wiser  and  more  experienced  than  them- 
selves. But  these  advisers  could  claim  no  authority  to 
compel  or  to  use  any  forcible  measures  to  oblige  any  one 
to  comply  with  their  direction  or  advice.  There  could  be 
no  occasion  for  the  exertion  of  such  a  power ;  for  every 
man,  being  under  the  government  of  right  reason,  would 
immediately  feel  himself  constrained  to  comply  with  every- 
thing that  appeared  reasonable  or  fit  to  be  done,  or  that 
would  any  way  tend  to  promote  the  general  good.  This 
would  have  been  the  happy  state  of  mankind  had  they 
closely  adhered  to  the  law  of  nature,  and  persevered  in 
their  primitive  state. 

Thus  we  see  that  a  state  of  nature,  though  it  be  a  state 
of  perfect  freedom,  yet  is  very  far  from  a  state  of  licen- 
tiousness. The  law  of  nature  gives  men  no  right  to  do 
anything  that  is  immoral,  or  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  injurious  to  their  fellow-creatures;  for  a  state  of  nature 
is  properly  a  state  of  law  and  government,  even  a  gov- 
ernment founded  upon  the  unchangeable  nature  of  the 
Deity,  and  a  law  resulting  from  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things.  Sooner  shall  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  and 
the  whole  frame  of  nature  be  dissolved,  than  any  part, 
even  the  smallest  iota,  of  this  law  shall  ever  be  ab- 
rogated ;   it  is  unchangeable  as  the  Deity  himself,  being 


272 


a  transcript  of  his  moral  perfections.  A  revelation/  pre- 
tending to  be  from  God,  that  contradicts  any  part  of  nat- 
ural law,  ought  immediately  to  be  rejected  as  an  impos- 
ture ;  for  the  Deity  cannot  make  a  law  contrary  to  the  law 
of  nature  without  acting  contrary  to  himself,  —  a  thing  in 
the  strictest  sense  impossible,  for  that  which  implies  con- 
tradiction is  not  an  object  of  the  divine  power.  Had  this 
subject  been  properly  attended  to^  and  understood,  the 
world  had  remained  free  from  a  multitude  of  absurd  and 
pernicious  principles,  which  have  been  industriously  prop- 
agated by  artful  and  designing  men,  both  in  politics  and 
divinity.  The  doctrine  of  non-resistance  and  unlimited 
passive  obeidience  to  the  worst  of  tyrants  could  never  have 
found  credit  among  mankind  had  the  voice  of  reason  been 
hearkened  to  for  a  guide,  because  such  a  doctrine  would 
immediately  have  been  discerned  to  be  contrary  to  natural 
law. 

In  a  state  of  nature  we  have  a  right  to  make  the  persons 
that  have  injured  us  repair  the  damages  that  they  have 
done  us  ;  and  it  is  just  in  us  to  inflict  such  punishment 
upon  them  as  is  necessary  to  restrain  them  from  doing  the 
like  for  the  future,  —  the  whole  end  and  design  of  punishing 
being  either  to  reclaim  the  individual  punished,  or  to  deter 
others  from  being  guilty  of  similar  crimes.  Whenever 
punishment  exceeds  these  bounds  it  becomes  cruelty  and 
revenge,  and  directly  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature.  Our 
wants  and  necessities  being  such  as  to  render  it  impossible 
in  most  cases  to  enjoy  life  in  any  tolerable  degree  without 
entering  into  society,  and  there  being  innumerable  cases 
wherein  we  need  the  assistance  of  others,  which  if  not  af- 
forded we  should  very  soon  perish ;  hence  the  law  of  na- 
ture requires  that  we  should  endeavor  to  help  one  another 
to  the  utmost  of  our  power  in  all  cases  where  our  assist- 

1  Sec  pages  0,1  note  1, 80  note  a.  —  Ed.  2  See  pages  53,  54.  —  Ed. 


273 


ance  is  necessary.  It  is  our  duty  to  endeavor  always  to 
promote  the  general  good ;  to  do  to  all  as  we  would  be 
willing  to  be  done  by  were  we  in  their  circumstances;  to 
do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  before  God. 
These  are  some  of  the  laws  of  nature  wdiich  every  man  in 
the  world  is  bound  to  observe,  and  which  whoever  violates 
exposes  himself  to  the  resentment  of  mankind,  the  lashes 
of  his  own  conscience,  and  the  judgment  of  Heaven.  This 
plainly  shows  that  the  highest  state  of  liberty  subjects  us 
to  the  law  of  nature  and  the  government  of  God.  The 
most  perfect  freedom  consists  in  obeying  the  dictates  of 
right  reason,  and  submitting  to  natural  law.  When  a  man 
goes  beyond  or  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  and  reason, 
he  becomes  the  slave  of  base  passions  and  vile  lusts ;  he 
introduces  confusion  and  disorder  into  society,  and  brings 
misery  and  destruction  upon  himself  This,  therefore,  can- 
not be  called  a  state  of  freedom,  but  a  state  of  the  vilest 
slavery  and  the  most  dreadful  bondage.  The  servants  of 
sin  and  corruption  are  subjected  to  the  worst  kind  of 
tyranny  in  the  universe.  Hence  we  conclude  that  where 
licentiousness  begins,  liberty  ends. 

The  law  of  nature  is  a  perfect  standard  and  measure  of 
action  for  beings  that  persevere  in  a  state  of  moral  recti- 
tude ;  but  the  case  is  far  different  with  us,  who  are  in  a 
fallen  and  degenerate  estate.  We  have  a  law  in  our  mem- 
bers which  is  continually  warring  against  the  law  of  the 
mind,  by  which  we  often  become  enslaved  to  the  basest 
lusts,  and  are  brought  into  bondage  to  the  vilest  passions. 
The  strong  propensities  of  our  animal  nature  often  over- 
come the  sober  dictates  of  reason  and  conscience,  and 
betray  us  into  actions  injurious  to  the  public  and  destruc- 
tive of  the  safety  and  happiness  of  society.  Men  of  un- 
bridled lusts,  were  they  not  restrained  by  the  power  of 
the  civil  magistrate,  would  spread  horror  and  desolation 


274 


all  around  them.  This  makes  it  absolutely  necessary  that 
societies  should  form  themselves  into  politic  bodies,  that 
they  may  enact  laws  for  the  public  safety,  and  appoint  par- 
ticular penalties  for  the  violation  of  their  laws,  and  invest 
a  suitable  number  of  persons  with  authority  to  put  in 
execution  and  enforce  the  laws  of  the  state,  in  order  that 
wicked  men  may  be  restrained  from  doing  mischief  to 
their  fellow-creatures,  that  the  injured  may  have  their 
rights  restored  to  them,  that  the  virtuous  may  be  encour- 
aged in  doing  good,  and  that  every  member  of  society 
may  be  protected  and  secured  in  the  peaceable,  quiet  pos- 
session and  enjoyment  of  all  those  liberties  and  privileges 
w^hich  the  Deity  has  bestowed  upon  him ;  i.  e.,  that  he 
may  safely  enjoy  and  pursue  whatever  he  chooses,  that  is 
consistent  with  the  public  good.  This  shows  that  the  end 
and  design  of  civil  government  cannot  be  to  deprive  men 
of  their  liberty  or  take  away  their  freedom ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  true  design  of  civil  government  is  to  j^rotect 
men  in  the  enjoyment  of  Uberty.^ 

From  hence  it  follows  that  tyranny  and  arbitrary  power 
are  utterly  inconsistent  wdth  and  subversive  of  the  very 
end  and  design  of  civil  government,  and  directly  contrary 
to  natural  law,  which  is  the  true  foundation  of  civil  gov- 
ernment and  all  politic  law.  Consequently,  the  authority 
of  a  tyrant  is  of  itself  null  and  void ;  for  as  no  man  can 
have  a  right  to  act  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature,  it  is 
impossible  that  any  individual,  or  even  the  greatest  number 
of  men,  can  confer  a  right  upon  another  of  which  they 
themselves  are  not  possessed ;  i.  e.,  no  body  of  men  can 
justly  and  lawfully  authorize  any  person  to  tyrannize 
over  and  enslave  his  fellow-creatures,  or  do  anything  con- 
trary to  equity  and  goodness.  As  magistrates  have  no 
authority  but  what  they  derive  from  the  j)eople,  whenever 

1  Pages  69,  78.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  275 

they  act  contrary  to  the  public  good,  and  pursue  measures 
destructive  of  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  community, 
they  forfeit  their  right  to  govern  the  people.  Civil  rulers 
and  magistrates  are  properly  of  human  creation  ;  they  are 
set  up  by  the  people  to  be  the  guardians  of  their  rights, 
and  to  secure  their  persons  from  being  injured  or  op- 
pressed, —  the  safety  of  the  public  being  the  supreme  law 
of  the  state,  by  which  the  magistrates  are  to  be  governed, 
and  which  they  are  to  consult  upon  all  occasions.  The 
modes  of  administration  may  be  very  different,  and  the 
forms  ^  of  government  may  vary  from  each  other  in  differ- 
ent ages  and  nations ;  but,  under  every  form,  the  end  of 
civil  government  is  the  same,  and  cannot  vary :  it  is  like 
the  laAvs  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  —  it  altereth  not. 

ThouQ^h  maofistrates  are  to  consider  themselves  as  the 
servants. of  the  people,  seeing  from  them  it  is  that  they 
derive  their  power  and  authority,  yet  they  may  also  be 
considered  as  the  ministers  of  God  ordained  by  him  for 
the  good  of  mankind;^  for,  under  him,  as  the  Supreme 
Magistrate  of  the  universe,  they  are  to  act :  and  it  is  God 
who  has  not  only  declared  in  his  word  what  are  the  neces- 
sary qualifications  of  a  ruler,  but  who  also  raises  up  and 
qualifies  men  for  such  an  important  station.  The  magis- 
trate may  also,  in  a  more  strict  and  proper  sense,  be  said 
to  be  ordained  of  God,  because  reason,  which  is  the  voice 
of  God,  plainly  requires  such  an  order  of  men  to  be  ap- 
pointed for  the  public  good.  Kow,  whatever  right  reason 
requires  as  necessary  to  be  done  is  as  much  the  will  and 
law  of  God  as  though  it  were  enjoined  us  by  an  immedi- 
ate revelation  from  heaven,  or  commanded  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures. 

From  this  account  of  the  origin,  nature,  and  design  of 
civil  government,  we  may  be  very  easily  led  into  a  thor- 

1  Page  82.  —  Ed.  2  Pages  75-77.  -  Ed. 


276 

ough  knowledge  of  our  duty;  we  may  see  the  reason  why 
we  are  bound  to  obey  magistrates,  viz.,  because  they  are 
the  ministers  of  God  for  good  unto  the  people.  While, 
therefore,  they  rule  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  while  they 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  state,  —  i.  e.,  while  they  act  in 
the  character  of  magistrates,  —  it  is  the  indispensable  duty 
of  all  to  submit  to  them,  and  to  oppose  a  turbulent,  fac- 
tious, and  libertine  spirit,  whenever  and  wherever  it  dis- 
covers itself.  When  a  people  have  by  their  free  consent 
conferred  upon  a  number  of  men  a  power  to  rule  and  gov- 
ern them,  they  are  bound  to  obey  them.  Hence  disobe- 
dience becomes  a  breach  of  faith ;  it  is  violating  a  consti- 
tution of  their  own  appointing,  and  breaking  a  compact 
for  which  they  ought  to  have  the  most  sacred  regard. 
Such  a  conduct  discovers  so  base  and  disingenuous  a  tem- 
per of  mind,  that  it  must  expose  them  to  contempt  in  the 
judgment  of  all  the  sober,  thinking  part  of  mankind. 
Subjects  are  bound  to  obey  lawful  magistrates  by  every 
tender  tie  of  human  nature,  which  disposes  us  to  consult 
the  public  good,  and  to  seek  the  good  of  our  brethren,  our 
wives,  our  children,  our  friends  and  acquaintance ;  for  he 
that  opposes  lawful  authority  does  really  oppose  the  safety 
and  happiness  of  his  fellow-creatures.  A  factious,  sedi- 
tious person,  that  opposes  good  government,  is  a  monster 
in  nature ;  for  he  is  an  enemy  to  his  own  sj^ecies,  and  des- 
titute of  the  sentiments  of  humanity.^ 

Subjects  are  also  bound  to  obey  magistrates,  for  con- 
science' sake,  out  of  regard  to  the  divine  authority,  and 
out  of  obedience  to  the  w^U  of  God ;  ^  for  if  magistrates 
are  the  ministers  of  God,  we  cannot  disobey  them  without 
being  disobedient  to  the  law  of  God ;  and  this  extends  to 
all  men  in  authority,  from  the  highest  ruler  to  the  lowest 
officer  in  the  state.     To  oppose  tliem  when  in  the  exercise 

1  See  p.  87,  note.  —  Ed.  2  gee  p.  64.  —  Ed. 


1776.  277 

of  lawful  authority  is  an  act  of  disobedience  to  the  Deity, 
and,  as  such,  will  be  punished  by  him.  It  will,  doubtless, 
be  readily  granted  by  every  honest  man  that  we  ought 
cheerfully  to  obey  the  magistrate,  and  submit  to  all  such 
regulations  of  government  as  tend  to  promote  the  public 
good ;  but  as  this  general  definition  may  be  liable  to  be 
misconstrued,  and  every  man  may  think  himself  at  liberty 
to  disregard  any  laws  that  do  not  suit  his  interest,  humor, 
or  fancy,  I  would  observe  that,  in  a  multitude  of  cases, 
many  of  us,  for  want  of  being  properly  acquainted  with 
affairs  of  state,  may  be  very  improj^er  judges  of  particular 
laws,  whether  they  are  just  or  not.  In  such  cases  it  be- 
comes us,  as  good  members  of  society,  peaceably  and  con- 
scientiously to  submit,  though  we  cannot  see  the  reason- 
ableness of  every  law  to  which  we  submit,  and  that  for 
this  plain  reason :  if  any  number  of  men  should  take  it 
upon  themselves  to  oppose  authority  for  acts,  which  may 
be  really  necessary  for  the  public  safety,  only  because 
they  do  not  see  the  reasonableness  of  them,  the  direct 
consequence  will  be  introducing  confusion  and  anarchy 
into  the  state. 

It  is  also  necessary  that  the  minor  part  should  submit  to 
the  major ;  e.  g.^  when  legislators  have  enacted  a  set  of 
laws  which  are  highly  approved  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
community  as  tending  to  promote  the  public  good,  in  this 
case,  if  a  small  number  of  persons  are  so  unhappy  as  to 
view  the  matter  in  a  very  different  point  of  light  from  the 
public,  though  they  have  an  undoubted  right  to  show  the 
reasons  of  their  dissent  from  the  judgment  of  the  public, 
and  may  lawfully  use  all  proper  arguments  to  convince  the 
public  of  what  they  judge  to  be  an  error,  yet,  if  they  fail 
in  their  attempt,  and  the  majority  still  continue  to  approve 
of  the  laws  that  are  enacted,  it  is  the  duty  of  those  few 
that  dissent  peaceably  and  for  conscience'  sake  to  submit 
24 


278  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

to  the  public  jiiclgment,  unless  something  is  required  of 
them  which  they  judge  would  be  sinful  for  them  to  comply 
with ;  for  in  that  case  they  ought  to  obey  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences  rather  than  any  human  authority 
w^hatever.^  Perhaps,  also,  some  cases  of  intolerable  op- 
pression, where  compliance  would  bring  on  inevitable  ruin 
and  destruction,  may  justly  warrant  the  few  to  refuse  sub- 
mission to  what  they  judge  inconsistent  with  their  peace 
and  safety;  for  the  law  of  self-preservation  will  always 
justify  opposing  a  cruel  and  tyrannical  imposition,  except 
where  opposition  is  attended  with  greater  evils  than  sub- 
mission, which  is  frequently  the  case  where  a  few  are  op- 
pressed by  a  large  and  powerful  majority.^  Except  the 
above-named  cases,  the  minor  ought  always  to  submit  to 
the  major;  otherwise,  there  can  be  no  peace  nor  harmony 
in  society.  And,  besides,  it  is  the  major  part  of  a  com- 
munity that  have  the  sole  right  of  establishing  a  constitu- 
tion and  authorizing  magistrates ;  and  consequently  it  is 
only  the  major  part  of  the  community  that  can  claim  the 
right  of  altering  the  constitution,  and  displacing  the  magis- 
trates ;  for  certainly  common  sense  will  tell  us  that  it 
requires  as  great  an  authority  to  set  aside  a  constitution 
as  there  was  at  first  to  establish  it.  The  collective  body, 
not  a  few  individuals,  ought  to  constitute  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  the  state. 

The  only  difficulty  remaining  is  to  determine  when  a 
people  may  claim  a  right  of  forming  themselves  into  a 


a  This  shows  the  reason  why  the  primitive  Christians  did  not  oppose  the  cruel 
persecutions  that  were  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  heathen  magistrates.  They 
were  few  compared  witli  the  heathen  world,  and  for  them  to  have  attempted  to 
resist  their  enemies  by  force  would  have  been  like  a  small  parcel  of  sheep  en- 
deavoring to  oppose  a  large  number  of  ravening  wolves  and  savage  beasts  of 
prey.  It  would,  without  a  miracle,  have  brought  upon  them  inevitable  ruin  and 
destruction.  Hence  the  wise  and  prudent  advice  of  our  Saviour  to  them  is, 
"  When  they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye  to  another."  1 

iSeep.  295.  — Ed. 


279 

body  politic,  and  assume  the  powers  of  legislation.  In 
order  to  determine  this  point,  we  are  to  remember  that  all 
men  being  by  nature  equal,  all  the  members  of  a  com- 
munity have  a  natural  right  to  assemble  themselves  to- 
gether, and  act  and  vote  for  such  regulations  as  they 
judge  are  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  whole.  But  when 
a  community  is  become  very  numerous,  it  is  very  difficult, 
and  in  many  cases  impossible,  for  all  to  meet  together  to 
regulate  the  affairs  of  the  state ;  hence  comes  the  necessity 
of  appointing  delegates  to  represent  the  people  in  a  gen- 
eral assembly.  And  this  ought  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
sacred  and  inalienable  right,  of  which  a  people  cannot 
justly  divest  themselves,  and  which  no  human  authority 
can  in  equity  ever  take  from  them,  viz.,  that  no  one  be 
obliged  to  submit  to  any  law  excejot  such  as  are  made 
either  by  himself  or  by  his  representative. 

If  representation  and  legislation  are  inseparably  con- 
nected, it  follows,  that  when  great  numbers  have  emigrated 
into  a  foreign  land,  and  are  so  far  removed  from  the  parent 
state  that  they  neither  are  or  can  be  properly  represented 
by  the  government  fi-om  which  they  have  emigrated,  that 
then  nature  itself  points  out  the  necessity  of  their  assum- 
ing to  themselves  the  powers  of  legislation ;  and  they 
have  a  right  to  consider  themselves  as  a  separate  state 
from  the  other,  and,  as  such,  to  form  themselves  into  a 
body  politic. 

In  the  next  place,  when  a  people  find  themselves  cruelly 
oppressed  by  the  parent  state,  they  have  an  undoubted 
right  to  throw  off  the  yoke,^  and  to  assert  their  liberty, 
if  they  find  good  reason  to  judge  that  they  have  sufficient 
power  and  strength  to  maintain  their  ground  in  defending 
their  just  rights  against  their  oppressors;  for,  in  this  case, 
by  the  law  of  self-preservation,  which  is  the  first  law  of 

1  Sec  pp.  93-95.  —  Ed. 


280 


nature,  they  have  not  only  an  undoubted  right,  but  it  is 
their  indispensable  duty,  if  they  cannot  be  redressed  any 
other  way,  to  renounce  all  submission  to  the  government 
that  has  oppressed  them,  and  set  up  an  independent  state 
of  their  own,  even  though  they  may  be  vastly  inferior  in 
numbers  to  the  state  that  has  oppressed  them.  When 
either  of  the  aforesaid  cases  takes  place,  and  more  espe- 
cially when  both  concur,  no  rational  man,  I  imagine,  can 
have  any  doubt  in  his  own  mind  whether  such  a  people 
have  a  right  to  form  themselves  into  a  body  politic,  and 
assume  to  themselves  all  the  powers  of  a  fi-ee  state.  For, 
can  it  be  rational  to  suppose  that  a  people  should  be 
subjected  to  the  tyranny  of  a  set  of  men^  who  are  perfect 
strangers  to  them,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  that 
fellow-feeling  for  them  that  we  generally  have  for  those 
with  whom  we  are  connected  and  acquainted;  and,  besides, 
through  their  unacquaintedness  with  the  circumstances  of 
the  people  over  whom  they  claim  the  right  of  jurisdiction, 
are  utterly  unable  to  judge,  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  which 
is  best  for  them  ? 

It  becomes  me  not  to  say  what  particular  form^  of  gov- 
ernment is  best  for  a  community, — whether  a  pure  democ- 
racy, aristocracy,  monarchy,  or  a  mixture  of  all  the  three 
simple  forms.  They  have  all  their  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages, and  when  they  are  properly  administered  may, 
any  of  them,  answer  the  design  of  civil  government  toler- 
ably. Permit  me,  however,  to  say,  that  an  unlimited, 
absolute  monarchy,  and  an  aristocracy  not  subject  to  the 
control  of  the  people,  are  two  of  the  most  exceptionable 
forms  of  government :  firstly,  because  in  neither  of  them 
is  there  a  proper  representation  of  the  people  ;  and,  sec- 

1  As,  for  instance,  in  the  case  in  hand,  the  British  Parliament  and  the 
American  colonies,    pp.  110,  206.  —  Ed. 
2Seepp.  80,  81,82.  — Ed. 


1776.  281 

ondly,  because  each  of  them  being  enth-ely  independent 
of  the  people,  they  are  very  apt  to  degenerate  into  tyranny. 
However,  in  this  imperfect  state,  we  cannot  expect  to  have 
government  formed  upon  such  a  basis  but  that  it  may  be 
perverted  by  bad  men  to  evil  purposes.  A  wise  and  good 
man  would  be  very  loth  to  undermine  a  constitution  that 
was  once  fixed  and  established,  although  he  might  dis- 
cover many  imperfections  in  it ;  and  nothing  short  of  the 
most  urgent  necessity  would  ever  induce  him  to  consent 
to  it ;  because  the  unhinging  a  people  from  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment to  which  they  had  been  long  accustomed  might 
throw  them  into  such  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion  as 
might  terminate  in  their  destruction,  or  perhaps,  in  the 
end,  subject  them  to  the  worst  kind  of  tyranny. 

Having  thus  shown  the  nature,  end,  and  design  of  civil 
government,  and  pointed  out  the  reasons  why  subjects  are 
bound  to  obey  magistrates,  —  viz.,  because  in  so  doing  they 
both  consult  their  own  happiness  as  individuals,  and  also 
promote  the  pubHc  good  and  the  safety  of  the  state,  —  I 
proceed,  in  the  next  place,  to  show  that  the  same  princi- 
ples that  oblige  us  to  submit  to  civil  government  do  also 
equally  oblige  us,  where  we  have  power  and  ability,  to 
resist  and  oppose  tyi'anny ;  and  that  where  tyranny  begins 
government  ends.^  For,  if  magistrates  have  no  authority 
but  what  they  derive  from  the  people ;  if  they  are  properly 
of  human  creation ;  if  the  whole  end  and  design  of  their 
institution  is  to  j^romote  the  general  good,  and  to  secure  to 
men  their  just  rights,  —  it  will  follow,  that  when  they  act 
contrary  to  the  end  and  design  of  their  creation  they 
cease  being  magistrates,  and  the  people  which  gave  them 
their  authority  have  the  right  to  take  it  from  them  again. 
This  is  a  very  plain  dictate  of  common  sense,  which  uni- 

1  See  pp.  73,  74,  note  1 ;  93-9G.  —  Ed. 
24* 


282 


versally  obtains  in  all  similar  cases  ;  for  who  is  there  that, 
having  emj^loyed  a  number  of  men  to  do  a  particular  piece 
of  work  for  him,  but  what  would  judge  that  he  had  a  right 
to  dismiss  them  from  his  service  when  he  found  that  they 
went  directly  contrary  to  his  orders,  and  that,  instead  of 
accomplishing  the  business  he  had  set  them  about,  they 
"would  infallibly  ruin  and  destroy  it?  If,  then,  men,  in  the 
common  affairs  of  life,  always  judge  that  they  have  a  right 
to  dismiss  from  their  service  such  persons  as  counteract 
their  plans  and  designs,  though  the  damage  will  affect 
only  a  few  individuals,  much  more  must  the  body  politic 
have  a  right  to  depose  any  persons,  though  appointed  to 
the  highest  place  of  power  and  authority,  when  they  find 
that  they  are  unfaithful  to  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  and 
that,  instead  of  consulting  the  general  good,  they  are  dis- 
turbing the  peace  of  society  by  making  laws  cruel  and 
oppressive,  and  by  depriving  the  subjects  of  their  just 
rights  and  jorivileges.  Whoever  pretends  to  deny  this 
proposition  must  give  up  all  pretence  of  being  master  of 
that  common  sense  and  reason  by  which  the  Deity  has 
distinguished  us  from  the  brutal  herd.^ 

As  our  duty  of  obedience  to  the  magistrate  is  founded 
upon  our  obligation  to  promote  the  general  good,  our 
readiness  to  obey  lawful  authority  will  always  arise  in 
proportion  to  the  love  and  regard  that  we  have  for  the 
welfire  of  the  public ;  and  the  same  love  and  regard  for 
the  public  will  inspire  us  with  as  strong  a  zeal  to  oppose 
tyranny  a&  we  have  to  obey  magistracy.  Our  obligation 
to  promote  the  public  good  extends  as  much  to  the  oppos- 
ing every  exertion  of  arbitrary  power  that  is  injurious  to 
the  state  as  it  does  to  the  submitting  to  good  and  wliole- 
some  laws.     'No  man,  therefore,  can  be  a  good  member  of 

1  Sec  pp.  71,72. —Ed. 


1116.  283 

the  community  that  is  not  as  zealous  to  oppose  tyranny  as 
he  is  ready  to  obey  magistracy.  A  slavish  submission  to 
tyranny  is  a  proof  of  a  very  sordid  and  base  mind.^  Such 
a  person  cannot  be  under  the  influence  of  any  generous 
human  sentiments,  nor  have  a  tender  regard  for  mankind. 

Further:  if  magistrates  are  no  farther  ministers  of  God 
than  they  promote  the  good  of  the  community,  then  obe- 
dience to  them  neither  is  nor  can  be  unlimited  ;  for  it 
would  imjjly  a  gross  absurdity  to  assert  that,  when  magis- 
trates are  ordained  by  the  people  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
beii]g  beneficial  to  the  state,  they  must  be  obeyed  when 
they  are  seeking  to  ruin  and  destroy  it.  This  would  imply 
that  men  were  bound  to  act  against  the  great  law  of  self- 
preservation,  and  to  contribute  their  assistance  to  their 
own  ruin  and  destruction,  in  order  that  they  may  please 
and  gratify  the  greatest  monsters  in  nature,  who  are  violat- 
ing the  laws  of  God  and  destroying  the  rights  of  mankind. 
Unlimited  submission  and  obedience  is  due  to  none  but 
God  alone.  He  has  an  absolute  right  to  command  ;  he 
alone  has  an  uncontrollable  sovereignty  over  us,  because  he 
alone  is  unchangeably  good;  he  never  will  nor  can  require 
of  us,  consistent  with  his  nature  and  attributes,  anything 
that  is  not  fit  and  reasonable;  his  commands  are  all  just 
and  good  ;  and  to  suppose  that  he  has  given  to  any  partic- 
ular set  of  men  a  power  to  require  obedience  to  that  which 
is  unreasonable,  cruel,  and  unjust,  is  robbing  the  Deity  of 
his  justice  and  goodness,  in  which  consists  the  peculiar 
glory  of  the  divine  character,  and  it  is  representing  him 
under  the  horrid  character  of  a  tyrant.^ 

If  magistrates  are  ministers  of  God  only  because  the 
law  of  God  and  reason  points  out  the  necessity  of  such  an 
institution  for  the  good  of  mankind,  it  follows,  that  when- 
ever they  pursue  measures  directly  destructive  of  the  pub- 

1  P.  f)!.  —  Ed.  2  Sec  p.  95.  —  Ed. 


284 

lie  good  they  cease  being  God's  ministers,  they  forfeit  their 
right  to  obedience  from  the  subject,  they  become  the  pests  ^ 
of  society,  and  the  community  is  under  the  strongest  obli- 
gation of  duty,^  both  to  God  and  to  its  own  members,  to 
resist  and  oppose  them,  which  will  be  so  far  from  resisting 
the  ordinance  of  God  that  it  will  be  strictly  obeying  his 
commands.^  To  suppose  otherwise  will  imply  that  the 
Deity  requires  of  us  an  obedience  that  is  self-contradictory 
and  absurd,  and  that  one  part  of  his  law  is  directly  con- 
trary to  the  other ;  i.  e.,  while  he  commands  us  to  pursue 
virtue  and  the  general  good,  he  does  at  the  same  time  re- 
quire us  to  persecute  virtue,  and  betray  the  general  good, 
by  enjoining  us  obedience  to  the  wicked  commands  of 
tyrannical  oppressors.  Can  any  one  not  lost  to  the  princi- 
ples of  humanity  undertake  to  defend  such  absurd  senti- 
ments as  these  ?  As  the  public  safety  is  the  first  and  grand 
law  of  society,  so  no  community  can  have  a  right  to  invest 
the  magistrate  with  any  power  or  authority  that  will  ena- 
ble him  to  act  against  the  welfare  of  the  state  and  the 
good  of  the  whole.  If  men  have  at  any  time  wickedly 
and  foolishly  given  up  their  just  rights  into  the  hands  of 
the  magistrate,  such  acts  are  null  and  void,  of  course ;  to 
suppose  otherwise  will  imply  that  we  have  a  right  to  in- 
vest the  magistrate  with  a  power  to  act  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God,  —  which  is  as  much  as  to  say  that  we  are  not 
the  subjects  of  divine  law  and  government.  What  has 
been  said  is,  I  apprehend,  abundantly  sufficient  to  show  that 
tyrants  are  no  magistrates,^  or  that  whenever  magistrates 
abuse  their  power  and  authority  to  the  subverting  the  \)\\\>- 
lic  happiness,  their  authority  immediately  ceases,  and  that 
it  not  only  becomes  lawful,  but  an  indispensable  duty  to 


1  Sec  p.  78.  —  Ed.  3  Sec  p.  62,  note  1.  —  Ed. 

2  See  p.  &3,  note  1.  —Ed.  4  Sec  p.  94,  note  a.  —  Ed. 


1776,  285 

oppose  them ;  that  the  principle  of  self-preservation,  the 
affection  and  duty  that  we  owe  to  our  country,  and  the 
obedience  we  owe  the  Deity,  do  all  require  us  to  oppose 
tyranny. 

If  it  be  asked,  Who  are  the  proper  judges^  to  determine 
when  rulers  are  guilty  of  tyranny  and  oppression  ?  I  an- 
swer, the  public.  ISTot  a  few  disaffected  indivicluals,  but  the 
collective  body  of  the  state,  must  decide  this  question  ; 
for,  as  it  is  the  collective  body  that  invests  rulers  with  their 
power  and  authority,  so  it  is  the  collective  body  that  has 
the  sole  right  of  judging  whether  rulers  act  up  to  the  end 
of  their  institution  or  not.  Great  regard  ought  always  to 
be  paid  to  the  judgment  of  the  public.  It  is  true  the 
public  may  be  imposed  upon  by  a  misrepresentation  of 
facts ;  but  this  may  be  said  of  the  public,  which  cannot 
always  be  said  of  individuals,  viz.,  that  the  public  is  always 
willing  to  be  rightly  informed,  and  when  it  has  proper 
matter  of  conviction  laid  before  it  its  judgment  is  always 
right. 

This  account  of  the  nature  and  design  of  civil  govern- 
ment, which  is  so  clearly  suggested  to  us  by  the  plain 
principles  of  common  sense  and  reason,  is  abundantly  con- 
firmed by  the  sacred  Scriptures,  even  by  those  very  texts 
which  have  been  brought  by  men  of  slavish  principles  to 
establish  the  absurd  doctrine  of  unlimited  passive  obedi- 
ence and  non-resistance,  as  will  abundantly  appear  by  ex- 
amining the  two  most  noted  texts  that  are  commonly 
brought  to  support  the  strange  doctrine  of  passive  obedi- 
ence. The  first  that  I  shall  cite  is  in  1  Peter  ii.  13,  14: 
"  Submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man,"  —  or, 
rather,  as  the  words  ought  to  be  rendered  from  the  Greek, 
submit  yourselves  to  every  human  creation,  or  human  con- 
stitution, —  "  for  the  Lord's  sake,  whether  it  be  to  the  king 

1  See  p.  8G,  note  a.  —  Ed. 


286 


as  supreme,  or  unto  governors,  as  unto  them  that  are  sent 
by  him  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  for  the  praise 
of  them  that  do  well."^  Here  we  see  that  the  apostle 
asserts  that  magistracy  is  of  human  creation  or  appoint- 
ment ;  that  is,  that  magistrates  have  no  power  or  authority 
but  what  they  derive  from  the  people;  that  this  power 
they  are  to  exert  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  for 
the  praise  of  them  that  do  well ;  i.  e.,  the  end  and  design 
of  the  appointment  of  magistrates  is  to  restrain  wicked 
men,  by  proper  penalties,  from  injuring  society,  and  to  en- 
courage and  honor  the  virtuous  and  obedient.  Upon  this 
account  Christians  are  to  submit  to  them  for  the  Lord's 
sake ;  which  is  as  if  he  had  said,  Though  magistrates  are 
of  mere  human  appointment,  and  can  claim  no  power  or 
authority  but  what  they  derive  from  the  people,  yet,  as 
they  are  ordained  by  men  to  promote  the  general  good  by 
punishing  evil-doers  and  by  rewarding  and  encouraging 
the  virtuous  and  obedient,  you  ought  to  submit  to  them 
out  of  a  sacred  regard  to  the  divine  authority ;  for  as  they, 
in  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  office,  do  fulfil  the  will  of 
God,  so  ye,  by  submitting  to  them,  do  fulfil  the  divine 
command.  If  the  only  reason  assigned  by  the  apostle 
why  magistrates  should  be  obeyed  out  of  a  regard  to  the 
divine  authority  is  because  they  punish  the  wicked  and 
encourage  the  good,  it  follows,  that  when  they  punish  the 
virtuous  and  encourage  the  vicious  we  have  a  right  to 
refuse  yielding  any  submission  or  obedience  to  them  ;  i.  e., 
whenever  they  act  contrary  to  the  end  and  design  of  their 
institution,  they  forfeit  their  authority  to  govern  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  reason  for  submitting  to  them,  out  of  regard 
to  the  divine  authority,  immediately  ceases ;  and,  they  being 
only  of  human  appointment,  the  authority  which  the  peo- 

1  Compare  these  pages  with  Dr.  Mayhew's,  in  1750,  p.  23.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  287 

pie  gave  them  the  public  have  a  right  to  take  from  them, 
and  to  confer  it  upon  those  who  are  more  worthy.  So  far 
is  this  text  fi*om  favoring  arbitrary  principles,  that  there  is 
nothing  in  it  but  what  is  consistent  with  and  favorable  to 
the  highest  liberty  that  any  man  can  wish  to  enjoy;  for 
this  text  requires  us  to  submit  to  the  magistrate  no  further 
than  he  is  the  encourager  and  protector  of  virtue  and  the 
23unisherof  vice  ;  and  this  is  consistent  with  all  that  liberty 
which  the  Deity  has  bestowed  upon  us.^ 

The  other  text  which  I  shall  mention,  and  which  has 
been  made  use  of  by  the  favorers  of  arbitrary  government 
as  their  great  sheet-anchor  and  main  support,  is  in  Rom. 
xiii.,  the  first  six  verses :  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to 
the  higher  powers ;  for  there  is  no  power  but  of  God. 
The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God.  Whosoever 
therefore  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of 
God ;  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  dam- 
nation ;  for  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to 
the  evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power? 
Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the 
same :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good. 
But  if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid ;  for  he  beareth 
not  the  sword  in  vain :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  re- 
venger to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doth  evil.  Where- 
fore ye  must  needs  be  subject  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also 
for  conscience'  sake.  For,  for  this  cause  pay  you  tribute 
also;  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  attending  continually 
upon  this-  very  thing."  A  very  little  attention,  I  appre- 
hend, will  be  sufiicient  to  show  that  this  text  is  so  far  from 
favoring  arbitrary  government,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it 
strongly  holds  forth  the  principles  of  true  liberty.  Sub- 
jection to  the  higher  powers  is  enjoined  by  the  apostle 
because  there  is  no  power  but  of  God ;  the  powers  that  be 

1  Seep.  78.  — Ed. 


288 


«nre  ordained  of  God ;  consequently,  to  resist  the  power  is 
to  resist  the  ordinance  of  God  :  and  he  repeatedly  declares 
that  the  ruler  is  the  minister  of  God.  Now,  before  we  can 
say  whether  this  text  makes  for  or  against  the  doctrine  of 
unlimited  passive  obedience,  we  must  find  out  in  what 
sense  the  apostle  affirms  that  magistracy  is  the  ordinance 
of  God,  and  what  he  intends  when  he  calls  the  ruler  the 
minister  of  God. 

I  can  think  but  of  three  possible  senses  in  which  magis- 
tracy can  with  any  propriety  be  called  God's  ordinance,  or 
in  which  rulers  can  be  said  to  be  ordained  of  God  as  his 
ministers.  The  first  is  a  plain  declaration  from  the  word  of 
God  that  such  a  one  and  his  descendants  are,  and  shall  be, 
the  only  true  and  lawful  magistrates :  thus  we  find  in 
Scripture  the  kingdom  of  Judah  to  be  settled  by  divine 
appointment  in  the  family  of  David.     Or, 

Secondly,  By  an  immediate  commission  from  God,  or- 
dering and  appointing  such  a  one  by  name  to  be  the 
ruler  over  the  people  :  thus  Saul  and  David  were  imme- 
diately appointed  by  God  to  be  kings  over  Israel.     Or, 

Thirdly,  Magistracy  may  be  called  the  ordinance  of 
God,  and  rulers  may  be  called  the  ministers  of  God,  be- 
cause the  nature  and  reason  of  things,  which  is  the  law  of 
God,  requires  such  an  institution  for  the  preservation  and 
safety  of  civil  society.  In  the  two  first  senses  the  apostle 
cannot  be  supposed  to  affirm  that  magistracy  is  God's 
ordinance,  for  neither  he  nor  any  of  the  sacred  writers 
have  entailed  the  magistracy  to  any  one  particular  family 
under  the  gospel  dispensation.  Neither  does  he  nor  any 
of  the  inspired  writers  give  us  the  least  hint  that  any  per- 
son should  ever  be  immediately  commissioned  from  God 
to  bear  rule  over  the  people.  The  third  sense,  then,  is  the 
oidy  sense  in  which  the  apostle  can  be  supposed  to  affirm 
that  the  magistrate  is  the  minister  of  God,  and  that  magis- 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  289 

tracy  is  the  ordinance  of  God ;  viz.,  that  the  nature  and 
reason  of  things  require  such  an  institution  for  the  pre- 
servation and  safety  of  mankind.  Now,  if  this  be  the 
only  sense  in  which  the  apostle  affirms  that  magistrates 
are  ordained  of  God  as  his  ministers,  resistance  must  be 
criminal  only  so  far  forth  as  they  are  the  ministers  of  God, 
i.  e.,  while  they  act  up  to  the  end  of  their  institution,  and 
ceases  being  criminal  when  they  cease  being  the  ministers 
of  God,  i.  e.,  when  they  act  contrary  to  the  general  good, 
and  seek  to  destroy  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

That  we  have  gotten  the  apostle's  sense  of  magistracy 
being  the  ordinance  of  God,  will  plainly  appear  from  the 
text  itself;  for,  after  having  asserted  that  to  resist  the 
power  is  to  resist  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  they  that 
resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation,  he  immedi- 
ately adds,  as  the  reason  of  this  assertion,  "  For  rulers  are 
not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil.  Wilt  thou 
then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power?  Do  that  which  is  good, 
and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same :  for  he  is  the 
minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.  But  if  thou  do  that 
which  is  evil,  be  afraid;  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword  in 
vain :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute 
wrath  upon  him  that  doth  evil."  Here  is  a  plain  declara- 
tion of  the  sense  in  which  he  asserts  that  the  authority  of 
the  magistrate  is  ordained  of  God,  viz.,  because  rulers  are 
not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the  evil;  therefore  we 
ought  to  dread  offending  them,  for  we  cannot  offend  them 
but  by  doing  evil;  and  if  we  do  evil  we  have  just  reason 
to  fear  their  power ;  for  they  bear  not  the  sword  in  vain, 
but  in  this  case  the  maofistrate  is  a  revenojer  to  execute 
wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil:  but  if  we  are  found  doers 
of  that  which  is  good,  we  have  no  reason  to  fear  the 
authority  of  the  magistrate ;  for  in  this  case,  instead  of 
being   punished,  we  shall  be  protected  and  encouraged. 

25 


290  THE  ELECTION   SERMON, 

The  reason  Tvhy  the  magistrate  is  called  the  minister  of 
God  is  because  he  is  to  protect,  encourage,  and  honor 
them  that  do  well,  and  to  punish  them  that  do  evil ;  there- 
fore it  is  our  duty  to  submit  to  them,  not  merely  for  fear 
of  being  j^unished  by  them,  but  out  of  regard  to  the 
divine  authority,  under  which  they  are  deputed  to  execute 
judgment  and  to  do  justice.  For  this  reason,  according  to 
the  apostle,  tribute  is  to  be  paid  them,  because,  as  the  min- 
isters of  God,  their  whole  business  is  to  protect  every  man 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  just  rights  and  privileges,  and  to 
punish  every  evil-doer. 

If  the  apostle,  then,  asserts  that  rulers  are  ordained  of 
God  only  because  they  are  a  terror  to  evil  works  and  a 
praise  to  them  that  do  well ;  if  they  are  ministers  of  God 
only  because  they  encourage  virtue  and  punish  vice;  if  for 
this  reason  only  they  are  to  be  obeyed  for  conscience'  sake; 
if  the  sole  reason  why  they  have  a  right  to  tribute  is 
because  they  devote  themselves  wholly  to  the  business  of 
securing  to  men  their  just  rights,  and  to  the  punishing  of 
evil-doers,  —  it  follows,  by  undeniable  consequence,  that 
when  they  become  the  pests  of  human  society,  when  they 
promote  and  encourage  evil-doers,  and  become  a  terror  to 
good  works,  they  then  cease  being  the  ordinance  of  God ; 
they  are  no  longer  rulers  nor  ministers  of  God ;  they  are 
so  far  from  being  the  powers  that  are  ordained  of  God 
that  they  become  the  ministers  of  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness, ^  and  it  is  so  far  from  being  a  crime  to  resist  them, 
that  in  many  cases  it  may  be  highly  criminal  in  the  sight 
of  Heaven  to  refuse  resisting  and  opposing  them  to  the 
utmost  of  our  power ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  same 
reasons  that  require  us  to  obey  the  ordinance  of  God,  do 
equally  oblige  us,  when  we  have  power  and  opportunity, 
to  oppose  and  resist  the  ordinance  of  Satan. 

1  Seep.  73.  — Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  291 

Hence  we  see  that  the  apostle  Paul,  instead  of  being  a 
friend  to  tyranny  and  arbitrary  government,  turns  out  to  be 
a  strong  advocate  for  the  just  rights  of  mankind,  and  is  for 
our  enjoying  all  that  liberty  with  which  God  has  invested 
us  ;  for  no  power  (according  to  the  apostle)  is  ordained  of 
God  but  what  is  an  encourager  of  every  good  and  virtuous 
action,  —  "Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have 
praise  of  the  same."  Xo  man  need  to  be  afraid  of  this 
power  which  is  ordained  of  God  who  does  nothing  but 
what  is  agreeable  to  the  law  of  God ;  for  this  power  will 
not  restrain  us  from  exercising  any  liberty  which  the  Deity 
has  granted  us ;  for  the  minister  of  God  is  to  restrain  us 
from  nothing  but  the  doing  of  that  which  is  evil,  and  to 
this  we  have  no  right.  To  practise  evil  is  not  liberty,  but 
licentiousness.  Can  we  conceive  of  a  more  perfect,  equi- 
table, and  generous  plan  of  government  than  this  whicji 
the  apostle  has  laid  down,  viz.,  to  have  rulers  appointed 
over  us  to  encourage  us  to  every  good  and  vh'tuous  action, 
to  defend  and  protect  us  in  our  just  rights  and  privileges, 
and  to  grant  us  everything  that  can  tend  to  promote  our 
true  interest  and  happiness ;  to  restrain  every  licentious 
action,  and  to  punish  every  one  that  would  injure  or  harm 
us ;  to  become  a  terror  of  evil-doers ;  to  make  and  execute 
such  just  and  righteous  laws  as  shall  effectually  deter  and 
hinder  men  from  the  commission  of  evil,  and  to  attend 
continually  upon  this  very  thing;  to  make  it  their  constant 
care  and  study,  day  and  night,  to  promote  the  good  and 
welfare  of  the  community,  and  to  oppose  all  evil  practices  ? 
Deservedly  may  such  rulers  be  called  the  riiinisters  of  God 
for  good.  They  carry  on  the  same  benevolent  design 
towards  the  community  which  the  great  Go^rnor  of  the 
universe  does  towards  his  whole  creation.  'T  is  the  indis- 
pensable duty  of  a  people  to  pay  tribute,  and  to  affoi-d  an 
easy  and  comfortable  subsistence  to  such  rulers,  because 


292  THE    ELECTION    SERMON, 

they  are  the  ministers  of  God,  who  are  continually  labor- 
ing and  employing  their  time  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munity. He  that  resists  such  magistrates  does,  in  a  very 
emphatical  sense,  resist  the  ordinance  of  God ;  he  is  an 
enemy  to  mankind,  odious  to  God,  and  justly  incurs  the 
sentence  of  condemnation  from  the  great  Judge  of  quick 
and  dead.  Obedience  to  such  magistrates  is  yielding  obe- 
dience to  the  will  of  God,  and,  therefore,  ought  to  be  per- 
formed from  a  sacred  regard  to  the  divine  authority. 

For  any  one  from  hence  to  infer  that  the  apostle  enjoins 
in  this  text  unlimited  obedience  to  the  worst  of  tyrants, 
and  that  he  pronounces  damnation  upon  those  that  resist 
the  arbitrary  measures  of  such  pests  of  society,  is  just  as 
good  sense  as  if  one  should  affirm,  that  because  the  Scrip- 
ture enjoins  us  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God,  therefore  we 
njay  not  oppose  the  power  of  darkness;  or  because  we  are 
commanded  to  submit  to  the  ordinance  of  God,  therefore 
we  may  not  resist  the  ministers  of  Satan.  Such  wild  work 
must  be  made  with  the  apostle  before  he  can  be  brought 
to  speak  the  language  of  oppression  !  It  is  as  plain,  I 
think,  as  words  can  make  it,  that,  according  to  this  text, 
no  tyrant  can  be  a  ruler  ;^  for  the  apostle's  definition  of  a 
ruler  is,  that  he  is  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the 
evil;  and  that  he  is  one  who  is  to  praise  and  encourage  those 
that  do  well.  Whenever,  then,  the  ruler  encourages  them 
that  do  evil,  and  is  a  terror  to  those  that  do  well,  —  i.  e.,  as 
soon  as  he  becomes  a  tyrant,  —  he  forfeits  his  authority  to 
govern,  and  becomes  the  minister  of  Satan,  and,  as  such, 
ought  to  be  opposed. 

I  know  it  is  said  that  the  magistrates  were,  at  the  time 
when  the  afiostle  wrote,  heathens,  and  that  Nero,^  that 
monster  of  tyranny,  was  then  Emperor  of  Rome ;  that 
therefore  the  apostle,  by  enjoining  submission  to  the  pow- 

1  See  p.  on,  note  1.  —  Ed.  2  Scc  pp.  57  b,  61  a.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTOJT,    1770.  293 

ers  that  then  were,  does  require  unlimited  obedience  to 
be  yielded  to  the  worst  of  tyrants.  Now,  not  to  insist 
upon  what  has  been  often  observed,  viz.,  that  this  epistle 
was  written  most  probably  about  the  beginning  of  Xero's 
reign,  at  which  time  he  was  a  very  humane  and  merciful 
prince,  did  everything  that  was  generous  and  benevolent 
to  the  public,  and  showed  every  act  of  mercy  and  tender- 
ness to  jiarticulars,  and  therefore  might  at  that  time  justly 
deserve  the  character  of  the  minister  of  God  for  good  to 
the  people,  —  I  say,  waiving  this,  we  will  suppose  that  this 
epistle  was  written  after  that  Xero  was  become  a  monster 
of  tyi-anny.and  wickedness ;  it  will  by  no  means  follow  from 
thence  that  the  apostle  meant  to  enjoin  unlimited  subjec- 
tion to  such  an  authority^  or  that  he  intended  to  affirm 
that  such  a  cruel,  despotic  authority  was  the  ordinance  of 
God.  The  jDlain,  obvious  sense  of  his  words,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  forbids  such  a  construction  to  be  put  upon 
them,  for  they  plainly  imply  a  strong  abhorrence  and  dis- 
approbation of  such  a  character,  and  clearly  prove  that 
Xero,^  so  far  forth  as  he  was  a  tyrant,  could  not  be  the 
minister  of  God,  nor  have  a  right  to  claim  submission  from 
the  people;  so  that  this  ought,  perhaps,  rather  to  be  viewed 
as  a  severe  satire  upon  Nero,  than  as  enjoining  any  submis- 
sion to  him. 

It  is  also  worthy  to  be  observed  that  the  apostle  pru- 
dently waived  mentioning  any  particular  persons  that  were 
then  in  power,  as  it  might  have  been  construed  in  an  in- 
vidious light,  and  exposed  the  primitive  Christians  to  the 
severe  resentments  of  the  men  that  were  then  in  power. 
He  only  in  general  requires  submission  to  the  higher  pow- 
ers, because  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God. 
Now,  though  the  emperor  might  at  that  time  be  such  a 

1  See  pp.  57,  61.— Ed. 
25* 


294 


tyrant  that  be  could  with  no  propriety  be  said  to  be  ordained 
of  God,  yet  it  would  be  somewhat  sti*ange  if  there  were  no 
men  in  power  among  the  Romans  that  acted  up  to  the 
character  of  good  magistrates,  and  that  deserved  to  be  es- 
teemed as  the  ministers  of  God  for  good  unto  the  people. 
If  there  were  any  such,  notwithstanding  the  tyranny  of 
Nero,  the  apostle  might  with  great  propriety  enjoin  sub- 
mission to  those  powers  that  were  ordained  of  God,  and 
by  so  particularly  pointing  out  the  end  and  design  of 
magistrates,  and  giving  his  definition  of  a  ruler,  he  might 
design  to  show  that  neither  Nero,  nor  any  other  tyrant, 
ought  to  be  esteemed  as  the  minister  of  God.  Or,  rather, 
— which  appears  to  me  to  be  the  true  sense,  —  the  apostle 
meant  to  speak  of  magistracy  in  general,  without  any  ref- 
erence to  the  emperor,  or  any  other  person  in  power,  that 
was  then  at  Rome ;  and  the  meaning  of  this  passage  is  as 
if  he  had  said.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  be  a 
good  subject  of  civil  government,  for  the  power  and  au- 
thority of  the  civil  magistrate  are  from  God;  for  the  pow- 
ers that  be  are  ordained  of  God ;  i.  e.,  the  authority  of  the 
magistrates  that  are  now  either  at  Rome  or  elsewhere  is 
ordained  of  the  Deity.  Wherever  you  find  any  lawful 
magistrates,  remember,  they  are  of  divine  ordination.  But 
that  you  may  understand  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that 
magistrates  are  of  divine  ordination,  I  will  show  you  how 
you  may  discern  who  are  lawful  magistrates,  and  ordained 
of  God,  from  those  who  are  not.  Those  only  are  to  be  es- 
teemed lawful  magistrates,  and  ordained  of  God,  who  pur- 
sue the  public  good  by  honoring  and  encouraging  those 
that  do  well  and  punishing  all  that  do  evil.  Such,  and 
such  only,  wherever  they  are  to  be  found,  are  the  ministers 
of  God  for  orood :  to  resist  such  is  resisting^  the  ordinance 
of  God,  and  exposing  yourselves  to  the  divine  wrath  and 
condemnation. 


295 


In  either  of  these  senses  the  text  cannot  make  anytliing 
in  favor  of  arbitrary  government.  Xor  could  he  with  any 
propriety  tell  them  that  they  need  not  be  afraid  of  tlie 
power  so  long  as  they  did  that  which  was  good,  if  he  meant 
to  recommend  an  unlimited  submission  to  a  tyrannical 
Nero;  for  the  best  characters  were  the  likeliest  to  fall  a 
sacrifice  to  his  malice.  And,  besides,  such  an  injunction 
would  be  directly  contrary  to  his  own  practice,  and  the 
practice  of  the  primitive  Christians,  who  refused  to  comply 
with  the  sinful  commands  of  men  in  power ;  their  answer 
in  such  cases  being  this,TVe  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
men.^  Hence  the  apostle  Paul  himself  suffered  many  cruel 
persecutions  because  he  would  not  renounce  Christianity, 
but  persisted  in  opposing  the  idolatrous  Avorship  of  the 
pagan  world. 

This  text,  being  rescued  from  the  absurd  interpretations 
which  the  favorers  of  arbitrary  government  have  put  upon 
it,  turns  out  to  be  a  noble  confirmation  of  that  free  and 
generous  plan  of  government  which  the  law  of  nature  and 
reason  points  out  to  us.  Nor  can  we  desire  a  more  equi- 
table plan  of  government  than  what  the  apostle  has  here 
laid  down  ;  for,  if  we  consult  our  happiness  and  real  good, 
we  can  never  wish  for  an  unreasonable  liberty,  viz.,  a  free- 
dom to  do  evil,  which,  according  to  the  apostle,  is  the  only 
thins:  that  the  masfistrate  is  to  refrain  us  from.  To  have 
a  liberty  to  do  whatever  is  fit,  reasonable,  or  good,  is  the 
highest  degree  of  freedom  that  rational  beings  can  possess. 
And  how  honorable  a  station  are  those  men  jDlaced  in,  by 
the  providence  of  God,  whose  business  it  is  to  secure  to 
men  this  rational  liberty,  and  to  promote  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  society,  by  suppressing  vice  and  immorality,  and 
by  honoring  and  encouraging  everything  that  is  honorable, 
virtuous,  and  praiseworthy !    Such  magistrates  ought  to  be 

iSeep.  278.  — Ed. 


296 

honored  and  obeyed  as  the  ministers  of  God  and  the 
servants  of  the  King  of  Heaven.  Can  we  conceive  of  a 
larger  and  more  generous  plan  of  government  than  this 
of  the  apostle  ?  Or  can  we  find  words  more  plainly  ex- 
pressive of  a  disapprobation  of  an  arbitrary  and  tyranni- 
cal government?  I  never  read  this  text  without  admiring 
the  beauty  and  nervousness  of  it ;  and  I  can  hardly  con- 
ceive how  he  could  express  more  ideas  in  so  few  words 
than  he  has  done.  We  see  here,  in  one  view,  the  honor 
that  belongs  to  the  magistrate,  because  he  is  ordained  of 
God  for  the  j^ublic  good.  "We  have  his  duty  pointed  out, 
viz.,  to  honor  and  encourage  the  virtuous,  to  promote  the 
real  good  of  the  community,  and  to  punish  all  wicked  and 
injurious  persons.  We  are  taught  the  duty  of  the  subject, 
viz.,  to  obey  the  magistrate  for  conscience'  sake,  because 
he  is  ordained  of  God  ;  and  that  rulers,  being  continually 
employed  under  God  for  our  good,  are  to  be  generously 
maintained  by  the  paying  them  tribute ;  and  that  disobe- 
dience to  rulers  is  highly  criminal,  and  will  expose  us  to 
the  divine  wrath.  The  liberty  of  the  subject  is  also  clearly 
asserted,  viz.,  that  subjects  are  to  be  allowed  to  do  every- 
thing that  is  in  itself  just  and  right,  and  are  only  to  be 
restrained  from  being  guilty  of  wrong  actions.  It  is  also 
strongly  implied,  that  when  rulers  become  oppressive  to 
the  subject  and  injurious  to  the  state,  their  authority,  their 
respect,  their  maintenance,  and  the  duty  of  submitting  to 
them,  must  immediately  cease  ;  they  are  then  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  ministers  of  Satan,^  and,  as  such,  it  becomes 
our  indispensable  duty  to  resist  and  oppose  them. 

Thus  we  see  that  both  reason  and  revelation  perfectly 
agree  in  pointing  out  the  nature,  end,  and  design  of  gov- 
ernment, viz.,  that  it  is  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happi- 
ness of  the  community ;  arid  that  subjects  have  a  right  to 

'    1  See  p.  73.  —  Ed. 


297 


do  everything  that  is  good,  praiseworthy,  and  consistent 
with  the  good  of  tlie  community,  and  are  only  to  be 
restrained  when  they  do  evil  and  are  injm-ious  either  to 
individuals  or  the  whole  community ;  and  that  they  ought 
to  submit  to  every  law  that  is  beneficial  to  the  community 
for  conscience'  sake,  although  it  may  in  some  measure 
interfere  with  their  private  interest ;  for  every  good  man 
will  be  ready  to  forego  his  private  interest  for  the  sake 
of  being  beneficial  to  the  public.  Reason  and  revelation, 
we  see,  do  both  teach  us  that  our  obedience  to  rulers  is 
not  unlimited,  but  that  resistance  is  not  only  allowable, 
but  an  indispensable  duty  in  the  case  of  intolerable  tyr- 
anny and  oppression.  From  both  reason  and  revelation  we 
learn  that,  as  the  iDublic  safety  is  the  supreme  law  of  the 
state,  —  being  the  true  standard  and  measure  by  which  we 
are  to  judge  whether  any  law  or  body  of  laws  are  just  or 
not,  —  so  legislators  have  a  right  to  make,  and  require  sub- 
jection to,  any  set  of  laws  that  have  a  tendency  to  promote 
the  good  of  the  community. 

Our  governors  have  a  right  to  take  every  proper  method 
to  form  the  minds  of  their  subjects  so  that  they  may  be- 
come good  members  of  society.  The  great  difierence  that 
we  may  observe  among  the  several  classes  of  mankind 
arises  chiefly  fi'om  their  education  and  their  laws :  hence 
men  become  virtuous  or  vicious,  good  commonwealths- 
men  or  the  contrary,  generous,  noble,  and  courageous, 
or  base,  mean-spirited,  and  cowardly,  according  to  the 
impression  that  they  have  received  from  the  government 
that  they  are  under,  together  with  their  education  and 
the  methods  that  have  been  practised  by  their  leaders  to 
form  their  minds  in  early  life.  Hence  the  necessity  of 
good  laws  to  encourage  every  noble  and  virtuous  senti- 
ment, to  suppress  vice  and  immorality,  to  promote  indus- 
try, and  to  punish  idleness,  that  parent  of  innumerable 


298 


evils ;  to  promote  arts  and  sciences,  and  to  banish  igno- 
rance from  among  mankind. 

And  as  nothing  tends  like  religion  and  the  fear  of  God 
to  make  men  good  members  of  the  commonwealth,  it  is 
the  duty  of  magistrates  to  become  the  patrons  and  pro- 
moters of  religion  and  piety,  and  to  make  suitable  laws  for 
the  maintaining  public  worship,  and  decently  supporting 
the  teachers  of  religion.  Such  laws,  I  apprehend,  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  well-being  of  civil  society.  Such 
laws  may  be  made,  consistent  with  all  that  liberty  of  con- 
science which  every  good  member  of  society  ought  to  be 
possessed  of;  ^  for,  as  there  are  few,  if  any,  religious  socie- 
ties among  us  but  what  profess  to  believe  and  practise  all 
the  great  duties  of  religion  and  morality  that  are  necessary 
for  the  well-being  of  society  and  the  safety  of  the  state,  let 
every  one  be  allowed  to  attend  worship  in  his  own  society, 
or  in  that  way  that  he  judges  most  agreeable  to  the  will 
of  God,  and  let  him  be  obliged  to  contribute  his  assistance 
to  the  supporting  and  defraying  the  necessary  charges 
of  his  own  meeting.  In  this  case  no  one  can  have  any  right 
to  complain  that  he  is  deprived  of  liberty  of  conscience, 
seeing  that  he  has  a  right  to  choose  and  freely  attend  that 
worship  that  appears  to  him  to  be  most  agreeable  to  the 
will  of  God ;  and  it  must  be  very  unreasonable  for  him  to 
object  against  being  obliged  to  contribute  his  part  towards 
the  support  of  that  worship  which  he  has  chosen.  Whether 
some  such  method  as  this  might  not  tend,  in  a  very  eminent 
manner,  to  promote  the  peace  and  welfare  of  society,  I 
must  leave  to  the  wisdom  of  our  legislators  to  determine ; 

1  "  Ought  to  he  possessed  of."  But  who  is  to  be  the  jud j^e  ?  —  Mr.  Backus, 
■^Ir.  West,  or  tlic  Pope?  Mr.  Backus  demanded  the  repeal  of  all  laws 
compelling  the  support  of  public  worship,  and  that  it  should  be  left  to  the 
voluntary  support  of  the  people.  —  Ed. 


1776.  299 

be  sure  it  would  take  off  some  of  the  most  popular^ 
objections  against  being  obliged  by  law  to  support  public 
worship  while  the  law  restricts  that  support  only  to  one 
denomination. 

But  for  the  civil  authority  to  pretend  to  establish  ^  par- 
ticular modes  of  faith  and  forms  of  worship,  and  to  punish 
all  that  deviate  from  the  standard  which  our  superiors 
have  set  up,  is  attended  with  the  most  pernicious  conse- 
quences to  society.  It  cramps  all  free  and  rational  inquiry, 
fills  the  world  with  hypocrites  and  superstitious  bigots  — 
nay,  with  infidels  and  skej^tics ;  it  exposes  men  of  religion 
and  conscience  to  the  rage  and  malice  of  fiery,  blind  zeal- 
ots, and  dissolves  every  tender  tie  of  human  nature ;  in 
short,  it  introduces  confusion  and  every  evil  work.  And  I 
cannot  but  look  upon  it  as  a  j^eculiar  blessing  of  Heaven 
that  we  live  in  a  land  where  every  one  can  freely  deliver 
his  sentiments  upon  religious  subjects,  and  have  the  privi- 
lege of  worshipping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience,^  without  any  molestation  or  disturbance, 
—  a  privilege  which  I  hope  we  shall  ever  keej)  up  and 
strenuously  maintain.*  No  principles  ought  ever  to  be 
discountenanced  by  civil  authority  but  such  as  tend  to 
the  subversion  of  the  state.  So  long  as  a  man  is  a  good 
member  of  society,  he  is  accountable  to  God  alone  for  his 
rehgious  sentiments ;  but  when  men  are  found  disturbers 
of  the  public  peace,  stirring  up  sedition,  or  practising 
against  the  state,  no  pretence  of  religion   or  conscience 


1  At  this  time  the  Baptists,  of  whom  the  excellent,  and  able,  and  zealous 
Backus  was  the  chief,  were  restless  under  the  then  legal  obligations.  Dr. 
"West's  proposed  method  was  deemed  by  many  a  dangerous  departure 
from  the  old  paths,  and  the  complete  divorce  was  not  eflfected  till  many 
years  later,  in  1834.  —  Ed. 

2  See  pp.  47-52;  also  p.  86,  note  a.  — Ed. 

3  See  p.  68,  note  1 .  —  Ed.  4  See  p.  58,  note  a.  —  Ed. 


too 


ought  to  screen  them  from  being  brought  to  condign  jDun- 
ishment.  But  then,  as  the  end  and  design  of  punishment 
is  either  to  make  restitution  to  the  injured  or  to  restrain 
men  from  committing  the  like  crimes  for  the  future,  so, 
when  these  important  ends  are  answered,  the  punishment 
ought  to  cease  ;  for  whatever  is  inflicted  upon  a  man  under 
the  notion  of  punishment  after  these  important  ends  are 
answered,  is  not  a  just  and  lawful  punishment,  but  is 
properly  cruelty  and  base  revenge. 

From  this  account  of  civil  government  we  learn  that 
the  business  of  magistrates  is  weighty  and  important.  It 
requires  both  wisdom  and  integrity.  When  either  are 
wanting,  government  will  be  poorly  administered ;  more 
especially  if  our  governors  are  men  of  loose  morals  and 
abandoned  principles ;  for  if  a  man  is  not  faithful  to  God 
and  his  own  soul,  how  can  we  expect  that  he  will  be  faith- 
ful to  the  public  ?  There  w^is  a  great  deal  of  propriety  in 
the  advice  that  Jethro  gave  to  Moses  to  provide  able  men, 
—  men  of  truth,  that  feared  God,  and  that  hated  covetous- 
ness,  —  and  to  appoint  them  for  rulers  over  the  people.  For 
it  certainly  implies  a  very  gross  absurdity  to  suppose  that 
those  who  are  ordained  of  God  for  the  public  good  should 
have  no  regard  to  the  laws  of  God,  or  that  the  ministers 
of  God  should  be  despisers  of  the  divine  commands. 
David,  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  makes  piety  a  ne- 
cessary qualification  in  a  ruler :  "  He  that  ruleth  over  men 
(says  he)  must  be  just,  ruling  in  the  fear  of  God."  It  is 
necessary  it  should  be  so,  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
the  state ;  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  venality  and  corrup- 
tion, of  tlie  tyranny  and  oppression,  that  will  take  place 
under  unjust  rulers,  barely  their  vicious  and  irregular  lives 
will  have  a  most  pernicious  effect  upon  the  lives  and  man- 
ners of  their  subjects  :  their  authority  becomes  despicable 
in  the  opinion    of  discerning   men.     And,  besides,   with 


301 


what  face  can  they  make  or  execute  laws  against  vices 
which  they  practise  with  greediness  ?  A  people  that  have 
a  right  of  choosing  their  magistrates  are  criminally  guilty 
in  the  sight  of  Heaven  when  they  are  governed  by  caprice 
and  humor,  or  ave  influenced  by  bribery  to  choose  magis- 
trates that  are  irreligious  men,  who  are  devoid  of  senti- 
ment, and  of  bad  morals  and  base  lives.  Men  cannot  be 
sufticiently  sensible  what  a  curse  they  may  bring  upon 
themselves  and  their  posterity  by  foolishly  and  wickedly 
choosing  men  of  abandoned  characters  and  profligate  lives 
for  their  magistrates  and  rulers.^ 

We  have  already  seen  that  magistrates  who  rule  in  the 
fear  of  God  ought  not  only  to  be  obeyed  as  the  ministers 
of  God,  but  that  they  ought  also  to  be  handsomely  sup- 
ported, that  they  may  cheerfully  and  freely  attend  upon 
the  duties  of  their  station ;  for  it  is  a  great  shame  and  dis- 
grace to  society  to  see  men  that  serve  the  public  laboring 
under  indigent  and  needy  circumstances ;  and,  besides,  it 
is  a  maxim  of  eternal  truth  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of 
his  reward. 

It  is  also  a  great  duty  incumbent  on  people  to  treat 
those  in  authority  with  all  becoming  honor  and  respect,  — 
to  be  very  careful  of  casting  any  asj^ersion  upon  their  char- 
acters. To  despise  government,  and  to  speak  evil  of  dig- 
nities, is  represented  in  Scripture  as  one  of  the  worst  of 
characters;  and  it  was  an  injunction  of  Moses,  "Thou 
shalt  not  speak  evil  of  the  ruler  of  thy  people."  Great 
mischief  may  ensue  upon  reviling  the  character  of  good 
rulers ;  for  the  unthinking  herd  of  mankind  are  very  apt 
to  give  ear  to  scandal,  and  when  it  falls  upon  men  in 
power,  it  brings  their  authority  into  contempt,  lessens  their 
influence,  and  disheartens  them  from  doing  that  service  to 


1  Seep,  69,  note  1.  — Ed. 
26 


302  THE  ELECTION   SERMON, 

the  community  of  which  they  are  capable ;  whereas,  when 
they  are  j^roperly  honored,  and  treated  with  that  respect 
which  is  due  to  their  station,  it  inspires  them  with  courage 
and  a  noble  ardor  to  serve  the  public :  their  influence 
among  the  people  is  strengthened,  and  their  authority 
becomes  firmly  established.  We  ought  to  remember  that 
they  are  men  like  to  ourselves,  liable  to  the  same  imperfec- 
tions and  infirmities  with  the  rest  of  us,  and  therefore,  so 
long  as  they  aim  at  the  public  good,  their  mistakes,  mis- 
aj^prehensions,  and  infirmities,  ought  to  be  treated  with  the 
utmost  humanity  and  tenderness. 

But  though  I  would  recommend  to  all  Christians,  as  a 
part  of  the  duty  that  they  owe  to  magistrates,  to  treat 
them  with  proper  honor  and  respect,  none  can  reasonably 
suppose  that  I  mean  that  they  ought  to  be  flattered  ^  in 
their  vices,  or  honored  and  caressed  while  they  are  seeking 
to  undermine  and  ruin  the  state ;  for  this  would  be 
wickedly  betraying  our  just  rights,  and  we  should  be 
guilty  of  our  own  destruction.  We  ought  ever  to  perse- 
vere with  firmness  and  fortitude  in  maintaining  and  con- 
tending for  all  that  liberty  that  the  Deity  has  granted  us. 
It  is  our  duty  to  be  ever  watchful  over  our  just  rights, 
and  not  suffer  them  to  be  wrested  out  of  our  hands  by 
any  of  the  artifices  of  tyrannical  oppressors.  But  there  is 
a  wide  difference  between  being  jealous  of  our  rights, 
when  we  have  the  strongest  reason  to  conclude  that  they 
are  invaded  by  our  rulers,  and  being  unreasonably  suspi- 
cious of  men  that  are  zealously  endeavoring  to  support  the 
constitution,  only  because  we  do  not  thoroughly  compre- 
hend all  their  desisrns.  The  first  argues  a  noble  and 
generous  mind ;  the  other,  a  low  and  base  spirit. 

Thus  have  I  considered  the  nature  of  the  duty  enjoined 
in  the  text,  and  have  endeavored  to  show  that  the  same 

1  See  pp.  97-103.  —  Ed. 


303 

principles  that  require  obedience  to  lawful  magistrates  do 
also  require  us  to  resist  tyrants ;  this  I  have  confirmed 
from  reason  and  Scripture. 

It  was  w^th  a  particular  view  to  the  present  unhappy 
controversy  that  subsists  between  us  and  Great  Britain 
that  I  chose  to  discourse  upon  the  nature  and  design  of 
government,  and  the  rights  and  duties  both  of  governors 
and  governed,  tbat  so,  justly  understanding  our  rights  and 
privileges,  we  may  stand  firm  in  our  opposition  to  minis- 
terial tyranny,  w^hile  at  the  same  time  we  pay  all  proper 
obedience  and  submission  to  our  lawful  magistrates ;  and 
that,  while  we  are  contending  for  liberty,  we  may  avoid 
running  into  licentiousness ;  and  that  we  may  preserve  the 
due  medium  between  submitting  to  tyranny  and  running 
into  anarchy.  I  acknowledge  that  I  have  undertaken  a 
difficult  task ;  but,  as  it  appeared  to  me,  the  present  state 
of  affairs  loudly  called  for  such  a  discourse ;  and,  therefore, 
I  hope  the  wise,  the  generous,  and  the  good,  will  candidly 
receive  my  good  intentions  to  serve  the  public.  I  shall 
now  apply  this  discourse  to  the  grand  controversy  that  at 
this  day  subsists  between  Great  Britain  and  the  American 
colonies. 

And  here,  in  the  first  place,  I  cannot  but  take  notice 
how  wonderfully  Providence  has  smiled  upon  us  by  caus- 
ing the  several  colonies  to  unite  ^  so  firmly  together  against 
the  tyranny  of  Great  Britain,  though  differing  from  each 
other  in  their  particular  interest,  forms  of  government, 
modes  of  worship,  and  particular  customs  and  manners, 
besides  several  animosities  that  had  subsisted  among  them. 
That,  under  these  circumstances,  such  a  union  should  take 
place  as  we  now  behold,  was  a  thing  that  might  rather 
have  been  washed  than  hoped  for. 

And,  in  the  next  j^lace,  who  could  have  thought  that, 

1  See  p.  218.  —  Ed. 


304  THE    ELECTION    SERMON, 

when  our  charter  was  vacated,  when  we  became  destitute 
of  any  legislative  authority,  and  when  our  courts  of  justice 
in  many  parts  of  the  country  were  stopped,  so  that  we 
could  neither  make  nor  execute  laws  upon  offenders,  — 
who,  I  say,  would  have  thought,  that  in  such  a  situation 
the  people  should  behave  so  peaceably,  and  maintain  such 
good  order  and  harmony  among  themselves?  This  is  a 
plain  proof  that  they,  having  not  the  civil  law  to  regulate 
themselves  by,  became  a  law  unto  themselves ;  and  by 
their  conduct  they  have  shown  that  they  were  regulated 
by  the  law  of  God  written  in  their  hearts.  This  is  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  it  ought  to  be  marvellous  in  our  eyes.^ 

From  what  has  been  said  in  this  discourse,  it  will  appear 
that  we  are  in  the  way  of  our  duty  in  opposing  the  tyranny 
of  Great  Britain ;  for,  if  unlimited  submission  is  not  due 
to  any  human  power,  if  we  have  an  undoubted  right  to 
oi:)pose  and  resist  a  set  of  tyrants  ^  that  are  subverting  our 
just  rights  and  privileges,  there  cannot  remain  a  doubt  in 
any  man,  that  will  calmly  attend  to  reason,  whether  we 
have  a  right  to  resist  and  oppose  the  arbitrary  measures  of 
the  King  and  Parliament ;  for  it  is  plain  to  demonstration, 
nay,  it  is  in  a  manner  self-evident,  that  they  have  been  and 
are  endeavoring  to  deprive  us  not  only  of  the  privileges 
of  Englishmen,  and  our  charter  rights,  but  they  have  en- 
deavored to  deprive  us  of  what  is  much  more  sacred,  viz., 
the  privileges  of  men  and  Christians;*  i.  6,,  they  are  rob- 
bing: us  of  the  inalienable  ri^^hts  that  the  God  of  nature 
has  given  us  as  men  and  rational  beings,  and  has  confirmed 

a  The  meaning  is  not  that  they  have  attempted  to  deprive  us  of  libertj'  of  con- 
science, but  that  they  have  attempted  to  take  aAvay  those  riglits  which  God  has 
invested  us  with  as  his  creatures  and  confirmed  in  his  j^ospel,  by  which  believers 
have  a  covenant  right  to  the  good  things  of  this  present  life  and  world. 

1  See  note  1,  p.  200.  — Ed. 

2  This  was  very  plain  En<;lisli  for  the  British  Parliament  to  read,  and 
sliockin":  to  Oxford  divines.  —  Ed. 


305 

to  us  in  his  written  word  as  Christians  and  disciples  of 
that  Jesus  who  came  to  redeem  us  from  the  bondage  of 
sin  and  the  tyranny  of  Satan,  and  to  grant  us  the  most 
perfect  freedom,  even  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons 
and  children  of  God ;  that  here  they  have  endeavored  to 
deprive  us  of  the  sacred  charter  of  the  King  of  Heaven. 
But  we  have  this  for  our  consolation :  the  Lord  reigneth ; 
he  governs  the  world  in  righteousness,  and  will  avenge  the 
cause  of  the  oppressed  when  they  cry  unto  him.  We 
have  made  our  appeal  to  Heaven,  and  we  cannot  doubt 
but  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right. 

Need  I  upon  this  occasion  descend  to  particulars  ?  Can 
any  one  be  ignorant  what  the  things  are  of  which  we  com- 
plain ?  Does  not  every  one  know  that  the  King  and  Par- 
liament have  assumed  the  right  to  tax  us  without  our 
consent?  And  can  any  one  be  so  lost  to  the  principles  of 
humanity  and  common  sense  as  not  to  view  their  conduct 
in  this  affair  as  a  very  grievous  imposition  ?  Reason  and 
equity  require  that  no  one  be  obliged  to  pay  a  tax  that  he 
has  never  consented  to,  either  by  himself  or  by  his  repre- 
sentative. But,  as  Divine  Providence  has  placed  us  at  so 
great  a  distance  from  Great  Britain  that  we  neither  are 
nor  can  be  properly  represented  in  the  British  Parliament, 
it  is  a  plain  proof  that  the  Deity  designed  that  we  should 
have  the  powers  of  legislation  and  taxation  among  our- 
selves ;  for  can  any  suppose  it  to  be  reasonable  that  a  set 
of  men  that  are  perfect  strangers  to  us  should  have  the 
uncontrollable  right  to  lay  the  most  heavy  and  grievous 
burdens  upon  us  that  they  please,  purely  to  gratify  their 
unbounded  avarice  and  luxury?  Must  we  be  obliged  to 
perish  with  cold  and  hunger  to  maintain  them  in  idleness, 
in  all  kinds  of  debauchery  and  dissipation  ?  But  if  they 
have  the  right  to  take  our  property  from  us  without  our 
consent,  we  must  be  wholly  at  their  mercy  for  our  food 

26* 


30G  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

and  raiment,  and  we  know  by  sad  exj^erience  that  their 
tender  mercies  are  cruel. 

But  because  we  were  not  willing  to  submit  to  such  an 
unrighteous  and  cruel  decree,  —  though  we  modestly  com- 
plained and  humbly  petitioned'  for  a  redress  of  our  griev- 
ances, —  instead  of  hearing  our  complaints,  and  granting 
our  requests,  they  have  gone  on  to  add  iniquity  to  transgres- 
sion, by  making  several  cruel  and  unrighteous  acts.  Who 
can  forget  the  cruel  act  to  block  up  the  harbor  of  Boston,^ 
whereby  thousands  of  innocent  persons  must  have  been 
inevitably  ruined  had  they  not  been  supported  by  the  con- 
tinent ?  Who  can  forget  the  act  for  vacating  our  charter, 
together  with  many  other  cruel  acts  which  it  is  needless 
to  mention?  But,  not  being  able  to  accomplish  their 
wicked  purposes  by  mere  acts  of  Parliament,  they  have 
proceeded  to  commence  ^  open  hostilities  against  us,  and 
have  endeavored  to  destroy  us  by  fire  and  sword.  Our 
towns  they  have  burnt,^  our  brethren  they  have  slain,  our 
vessels  they  have  taken,  and  our  goods  they  have  spoiled. 
And,  after  all  this  wanton  exertion  of  arbitrary  power,  is 
there  the  man  that  has  any  of  the  feeling  of  humanity  left 
who  is  not  fired  with  a  noble  indignation  against  such  mer- 
ciless tyrants,  who  have  not  only  brought  upon  us  all  the 
horrors  of  a  civil  war,  but  have  also  added  a  piece  of  bar- 

1  No  class  in  the  community  rendered  more  efficient  service  to  their 
country  tlian  did  the  seamen,  especially  at  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
Mr.  Sabine's  Report  on  the  Fisheries  contains  a  most  interesting  chapter 
—  pp.  198-210  — on  the  "  Public  Services  and  Character  of  Fishermen." 
Newport,  R.  I.,  Marblehead,  and  Boston  seamen  did  invaluable  service. 
See  also  Lossing's  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,  ii.  88,  and  Arnold's  His- 
tory of  Rhode  Island,  ii.  38G;  Cooper's  Naval  History,  London  cd.,  1839, 
i.  286.  —  Ed. 

2  They  shed  the  first  blood  at  Lexinj^ton,  April  19th.  —  Ed. 

3  Charlestown,  burnt  .Tune  17,  and  Falmouth,  October  18.  See  Froth- 
in<;ham's  History,  and  Willis's  History  of  Portland,  ii.  chap.  8.  —  Ed. 


1776.  SOT 

barity  unknown  to  Turks  and  Mohammedan  infidels,  yea, 
such  as  would  be  abhorred  and  detested  by  the  savages  of 
the  wilderness, — I  mean  their  cruelly  forcing  our  brethren 
whom  they  have  taken  prisoners,  without  any  distinction 
of  whig  or  tory,  to  serve  on  board  their  ships  of  war,^ 
thereby  obliging  them  to  take  up  arms  against  their  own 
countrymen,  and  to  fight  against  their  brethren,  their 
wives,  and  their  children,  and  to  assist  in  plundering  their 
own  estates !  This,  my  brethren,  is  done  by  men  who  call 
themselves  Christians,  against  their  Christian  brethren, — 
against  men  w^ho  till  now  gloried  in  the  name  of  English- 
men, and  who  were  ever  ready  to  spend  their  lives  and 
fortunes  in  the  defence  of  British  rights.  Tell  it  not  in 
Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon,  lest  it  cause 
our  enemies  to  rejoice  and  our  adversaries  to  triumph! 
Such  a  conduct  as  this  brings  a  great  reproach  upon  the 
profession  of  Christianity ;  nay,  it  is  a  great  scandal  even 
to  human  nature  itself. 

It  would  be  highly  criminal  not  to  feel  a  due  resent- 
ment against  such  tyrannical  monsters.  It  is  an  indis- 
pensable duty,  my  brethren,  which  we  owe  to  God  and 
our  country,  to  rouse  up  and  bestir  ourselves,  and,  being 
animated  with  a  noble  zeal  for  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty, 
to  defend  our  lives  and  fortunes,  even  to  the  shedding  the 
last  drop  of  blood.  The  love  of  our  country,  the  tender 
afi'ection  that  w^e  have  for  our  wives  and  children,  the 
regard  we  ought  to  have  for  unborn  posterity,  yea,  every- 
thing that  is  dear  and  sacred,  do  now  loudly  call  upon  us 
to  use  our  best  endeavors  to  save  our  country.  We  must 
beat  our  ploughshares  into  swords,  and  our  pruning-hooks 
into  spears,  and  learn  the  art  of  self-defence  against  our 

1  "  It  is,  in  truth,  notliino;  more  than  the  old,  and,  as  I  thought,  exploded 
prohlem  of  tyranny,  which  proposes  to  beggar  its  subjects  into  submis- 
sion."— Edmund  Burke,  177-5.  —  Ed. 


808  THE  ELECTION   SERMON, 

enemies.^  To  be  careless  and  remiss,  or  to  neglect  the 
cause  of  our  country  through  the  base  motives  of  avarice 
and  self-interest,  will  expose  us  not  only  to  the  resent- 

^  A  large  octavo  pamphlet  of  thirty-one  pages  — "  The  Manual  Exercises, 
as  ordered  by  his  Majesty  in  1764,  together  with  Plans  and  Explanations 
of  the  method  generally  practised  at  Reviews  and  Field-Days.  Massachu- 
setts Bay:  Boston.  Printed  and  sold  by  Isaiah  Thomas  at  his  Printing- 
office,  near  the  Mill-Bridge  " — was  recommended  by  the  "  Provincial  Con- 
gress at  Cambridge,  October  20,  1774,  ....  as  the  best  calculated  for 
appeai-ance  and  defence."  Another  pamphlet  of  fifteen  pages  —  "  Rules 
and  Regulations  for  the  Massachusetts  Army.  Salem :  Printed  by  Samuel 
and  Ebenezer  Hall.  1775"  —  begins  thus:  "In  Provincial  Congress,  Con- 
cord, April  5th,  1775.  Whereas  the  Lust  of  Power  which  of  old  oppressed, 
persecuted,  and  exiled  our  pious  and  virtuous  ancestors  from  their  fair 
possessions  in  Britain,  now  pursues,  with  tenfold  severity,  us,  their  guilt- 
less children,  who  are  unjustly  and  wickedly  charged  with  Licentiousness, 
Sedition,  Treason,  and  Rebellion;  and  being  deeply  impressed  with  a 
Sense  of  the  almost  incredible  Fatigues  and  Hardships  our  venerable  Pro- 
genitors encountered,  who  tied  from  Oppression  for  the  sake  of  civil  and 
religious  Liberty  for  themselves  and  their  offspring,  and  began  a  settle- 
ment here  on  bare  Creation,  at  their  own  expense;  and  having  seriously 
considered  the  Duty  we  owe  to  God,  to  the  Memory  of  such  invincible 
Worthies,  to  the  King,  to  Great  Britain,  our  Country,  ourselves  and  Pos- 
terity, do  think  it  an  indispensable  Dut}'^,  by  all  lawful  Ways  and  Means 
in  our  Power,  to  recover,  maintain,  defend,  and  preserve  the  free  exercise 
of  all  those  civil  and  religious  Rights  and  Liberties  for  which  many  of  our 
Forefathers  fought,  bled,  and  died,  and  to  hand  them  down  entire  for  the 
free  Enjoyment  of  the  latest  Posterity;"  and  they  " recommend "  fifty- 
three  articles  for  the  regulation  of  "  the  Army  that  may  be  raised,"  etc. 
Article  one  is  that  "  all  officers  and  soldiers  ....  shall  diligently  frequent 
Divine  Service  and  Sermons." 
The  whole  is  "  signed  by  order  of  the  Provincial  Congress. 

"  Joiix  Hancock,  President." 

How  perfectly  Cromwellian  is  all  this!  These  soldiers  were  freemen; 
they  chose  the  delegates  to  that  very  congress;  from  the  lips  of  their  own 
chosen  pastors  flowed  fervid  appeals,  like  that  in  the  text,  to  which  they 
constantly  listened,  and  which  they  drank  in  till  their  souls  were  kindled. 
Could  George  III.  and  his  mercenary  Hessians  conquer  such  soldiers,  who 
fought  not  for  money,  but  for  their  homes,  —  yes,  and  for  us,  —  with  Bi- 
bles in  their  pockets,  and  faith  in  their  hearts,  and  English  Puritan  blood 
in  their  veins?  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  309 

ments  of  our  fellow-creatures,  but  to  the  displeasure  of 
God  Almighty ;  for  to  such  base  wretches,  in  such  a  time 
as  this,  we  may  apply  with  the  utmost  propriety  that  pas- 
sacre  in  Jeremiah  xlviii.  10  :  "Cursed  be  he  that  doth  the 
work  of  the  Lord  deceitfully,  and  cursed  be  he  that  keep- 
eth  back  his  sword  from  blood."  To  save  our  country 
from  the  hands  of  our  oppressors  ought  to  be  dearer  to  us 
even  than  our  own  lives,  and,  next  the  eternal  salvation  of 
our  ov\'n  souls,  is  the  thing  of  the  greatest  importance, —  a 
duty  so  sacred  that  it  cannot  justly  be  dispensed  with  for 
the  sake  of  our  secular  concerns.  Doubtless  for  this  reason 
God  has  been  pleased  to  manifest  his  anger  against  those 
who  have  refused  to  assist  their  country  against  its  cruel 
oppressors.  Hence,  in  a  case  similar  to  ours,  when  the 
Israelites  were  struggling  to  deliver  themselves  from  the 
tyranny  of  Jabin,  the  king  of  Canaan,  we  find  a  most  bit- 
ter curse  denounced  against  those  who  refused  to  grant 
their  assistance  in  the  common  cause ;  see  Judges  v.  23  : 
"Curse  ye  Meroz,  said  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  cui'se  ye  bit- 
terly the  inhabitants  thereof;  because  they  came  not  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty." 

Now,  if  such  a  bitter  curse  is  denounced  against  those 
who  refused  to  assist  their  country  against  its  oppressors, 
what  a  dreadful  doom  are  those  exposed  to  who  have  not 
only  refused  to  assist  their  country  in  this  time  of  distress, 
but  have,  through  motives  of  interest  or  ambition,  shown 
themselves  enemies  to  their  country  by  opposing^  us  in 


1  About  this  time  — March  31?t— Washington  wrote  of  these  men:  ''One 
or  two  have  clone  what  a  great  number  ought  to  have  done  long  ago  — 
committed  suicide.  By  all  accounts  there  never  existed  a  more  miserable 
set  of  beings  than  these  wretched  creatures  now  are.  Taught  to  believe 
that  the  power  of  Great  Britain  was  superior  to  all  opposition,  and,  if  not, 
that  foreign  aid  was  at  hand,  they  were  even  higher  and  more  insulting  in 


310 

the  measures  that  we  have  taken,  and  by  openly  favoring 
the  British  Parliament !  He  that  is  so  lost  to  humanity  as 
to  be  willing  to  sacrifice  his  country  for  the  sake  of  ava- 
rice or  ambition,  has  arrived  to  the  highest  stage  of  wick- 
edness that  human  nature  is  capable  of,  and  deserves  a 
much  worse  name  than  I  at  present  care  to  give  him.  But 
I  think  I  may  with  propriety  say  that  such  a  person  has 
forfeited  his  right  to  human  society,  and  that  he  ought  to 
take  up  his  abode,  not  among  the  savage  men,  but  among 
the  savage  beasts  of  the  wilderness. 

Nor  can  I  wholly  excuse  from  blame  those  timid  persons 
who,  through  their  own  cowardice,  have  been  induced  to 
favor  our  enemies,  and  have  refused  to  act  in  defence  of 
their  country ;  for  a  due  sense  of  the  ruin  and  destruction 
that  our  enemies  are  bringing  upon  us  is  enough  to  raise 
such  a  resentment  in  the  human  breast  that  would,  I 
should  think,  be  sufficient  to  banish  fear  from  the  most 
timid  make.  And,  besides,  to  indulge  cowardice  in  such  a 
cause  argues  a  want  of  faith  in  God ;  for  can  he  that 
firmly  believes  and  relies  upon  the  providence  of  God 
doubt  w^hether  he  will  avenge  the  cause  of  the  injured 
when  they  apply  to  him  for  help  ?  For  my  own  part,  when 
I  consider  the  dispensations  of  Providence  towards  this 
land  ever  since  our  fathers  first  settled  in  Plymouth,  I  find 
abundant  reason  to  conclude  that  the  great  Sovereign  of 
the  universe  has  planted  a  vine  in  this  American  wilder- 
ness which  he  has  caused  to  take  deep  root,  and  it  has 


their  opposition  than  the  regulars.  When  the  order  issued,  therefore,  for 
embarking  the  troops  in  Boston,  no  electric  shock,  no  sudden  explosion 
of  thunder,  in  a  word,  not  the  last  trump,  could  have  struck  them  with 
greater  consternation.  They  were  at  their  wits'  end;  and,  conscious  of 
tlieir  black  ingratitude,  they  chose  to  commit  themselves,  in  the  manner 
I  have  above  described,  to  the  mercy  of  the  waves,  at  a  tempestuous  sea- . 
son,  rather  than  meet  their  offended  countrymen." —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1776.  311 

filled   the   land,  and   that  he  will  never  suffer  it  to  be 
j^lucked  up  or  destroyed. 

Our  fathers  fled^  from  the  rage  of  prelatical  tyranny  and 
persecution,  and  came  into  this  land  in  order  to  enjoy  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  and  they  have  increased  to  a  great  peo- 
ple. Many  have  been  the  interpositions  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence on  our  behalf,  both  in  our  fathers'  days  and  ours ; 
and,  though  we  are  now  engaged  in  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  yet  we  have  been  prospered  in  a  most  wonderful 
manner.  And  can  we  think  that  he  who  has  thus  far 
helped  us  will  give  us  up  into  the  hands  of  our  enemies? 
Certainly  he  that  has  begun  to  deliver  us  will  continue  to 
show  his  mercy  towards  us,  in  saving  us  from  the  hands 
of  our  enemies :  he  will  not  forsake  us  if  we  do  not  forsake 
him.  Our  cause  is  so  just  and  good  that  nothing  can  pre- 
vent our  success  but  only  our  sins.  Could  I  see  a  spirit  of 
repentance  and  reformation  prevail  through  the  land,  I 
should  not  have  the  least  apprehension  or  fear  of  being 
brought  under  the  iron  rod  of  slavery,  even  though  all  the 
powers  of  the  globe  were  combined  against  us.  And 
though  I  confess  that  the  irreligion  and  profaneness  which 
are  so  common  among  us  gives  something  of  a  damp  to 
my  spirits,  yet  I  cannot  help  hoping,  and  even  believing, 
that  Providence  has  designed  this  continent  for  to  be  the 
asylum  of  liberty  and  true  religion ;  for  can  we  suppose 
that  the  God  who  created  us  free  agents,  and  designed 
that  we  should  glorify  and  serve  him  in  this  world  that  we 
might  enjoy  him  forever  hereafter,  will  suffer  liberty  and 
true  religion  to  be  banished  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth? 
But  do  we  not  find  that  both  religion  and  liberty  seem  to 
be  expiring  and  gasping  for  life  in  the  other  continent?  — 
where,  then,  can  they  find  a  harbor  or  place  of  refuge  but 
in  this  ? 

1  Sec  pp.  X.— xii.  —  Ed. 


312  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

There  are  some  ^  who  pretend  that  it  is  against  their 
consciences  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  their  country ; 
but  can  any  rational  being  suppose  that  the  Deity  can  re- 
quire us  to  contradict  the  law  of  nature  which  lie  has  writ- 
ten in  our  hearts,  a  part  of  which  I  am  sure  is  the  principle 
of  self-defence,  which  strongly  prompts  us  all  to  oppose 
any  power  that  would  take  away  our  lives,  or  the  lives  of 
our  friends?  Now,  for  men  to  take  pains  to  destroy  the 
tender  feelings  of  human  nature,  and  to  eradicate  the  prin- 
ciples of  self-preservation,  and  then  to  persuade  themselves 
that  in  so  doing  they  submit  to  and  obey  the  will  of  God, 
is  a  plain  proof  how  easily  men  may  be  led  to  pervert  the 
very  first  and  plainest  principles  of  reason  and  common 
sense,  and  argues  a  gross  corruption  of  the  human  mind. 
We  find  such  persons  are  very  inconsistent  with  them- 
selves ;  for  no  men  are  more  zealous  to  defend  their  prop- 
erty, and  "to  secure  their  estates  from  the  encroachments  of 
others,  while  they  refuse  to  defend  their  persons,  their 
wives,  their  children,  and  their  country,  against  the  assaults 
of  the  enemy.  We  see  to  what  unaccountable  lengths 
men  will  run  when  once  they  leave  the  plain  road  of  com- 
mon sense,  and  violate  the  law  which  God  has  written  in 
the  heart.  Thus  some  have  thought  they  did  God  service 
when  they  unmercifully  butchered"  and  destroyed  the  lives 
of  the  servants  of  God ;  while  others,  upon  the  contrary 
extreme,  believe  that  they  ^^lease  God  while  they  sit  still 
and  quietly  behold  their  friends  and  brethren  killed  by 
their  unmerciful  enemies,  without  endeavoring  to  defend 
or  rescue  them.  The  one  is  a  sin  of  omission,  and  the 
other  is  a  sin  of  commission,  and  it  may  perhaps  be  diffi- 
cult to  say,  under  certain  circumstances,  which  is  the  most 

1  "  Whereas  tlic  people  called  Quakers  profess  themselves  conscientiously- 
scrupulous  of  attending  in  arms  at  military  musters,"  they  were  exempted 
by  a  statute  of  17G3.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1776.  313 

criminal  in  the  sight  of  Heaven.  Of  this  I  am  sure,  that 
they  are,  both  of  them,  great  violations  of  the  hiw  of  God. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  show  the  hiwfulness  and  ne- 
cessity of  defending  ourselves  against  the  tyranny  of  Great 
Britain,  I  would  observe  that  Providence  seems  plainly  to 
point  to  us  the  expediency,  and  even  necessity,  of  our  con- 
sidering ourselves  as  an  independent  state.^  For,  not  to 
consider  the  absurdity  implied  in  making  war  against  a 
power  to  which  we  profess  to  own  subjection,  to  pass  by 
the  impracticability  of  our  ever  coming  under  subjection  to 
Great  Britain  upon  fair  and  equitable  terms,  we  may  ob- 
serve that  the  British  Parliament  has  virtually  declared  us 
an  independent  state  by  authorizing  their  ships  of  war  to 
seize  all  American  property,  wherever  they  can  find  it, 
without  making  any  distinction  between  the  friends  of 
administration  and  those  that  have  appeared  in  opposition 
to  the  acts  of  Parliament.  This  is  making  us  a  distinct 
nation  from  themselves.  They  can  have  no  right  any 
longer  to  style  us  rebels ;  for  rebellion  implies  a  particular 
faction  risen  up  in  opposition  to  lawful  authority,  and,  as 
such,  the  factious  party  ought  to  be  punished,  while  those 
that  remain  loyal  are  to  be  protected.  But  when  war  is 
declared  against  a  whole  community  without  distinction, 
and  the  proj^erty  of  each  party  is  declared  to  be  seizable, 
this,  if  anything  can  be,  is  treating  us  as  an  independent 
state.  Now,  if  they  are  pleased  to  consider  us  as  in  a  state 
of  independency,  who  can  object  against  our  considering 
ourselves  so  too  ? 

But  while  we  are  nobly  opposing  with  our  lives  and  es- 
tates the  tyranny  of  the  British  Parliament,  let  us  not  for- 
get the  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  lawful  magistrates ;  let 
us  never  mistake  licentiousness  for  liberty.     The  more  we 


1  Within  forty  days,  July  4th,  came  the  "  Declaration  of  Independence." 

27 


314 


understand  the  principles  of  liberty,  the  more  readily  shall 
we  yield  obedience  to  lawful  authority ;  for  no  man  can 
oppose  good  government  but  he  that  is  a  stranger  to  true 
liberty.  Let  us  ever  check  and  restrain  the  factious  dis- 
turbers of  the  peace  ;  whenever  we  meet  with  persons  that 
are  loth  to  submit  to  lawful  authority,  let  us  treat  them 
with  the  contempt  which  they  deserve,  and  ever  esteem 
them  as  the  enemies  of  their  country  and  the  pests  of  so- 
ciety. It  is  with  peculiar  pleasure  that  I  reflect  upon  the 
peaceable  behavior  of  my  countrymen  at  a  time  when  the 
courts  of  justice  were  stopped  and  the  execution  of  laws 
suspended.  It  will  certainly  be  expected  of  a  people  that 
could  behave  so  well  when  they  had  nothing  to  restrain 
them  but  the  laws  written  in  their  hearts,  that  they  will 
yield  all  ready  and  cheerful  obedience  to  lawful  authority. 
There  is  at  present  the  utmost  need  of  guarding  ourselves 
against  a  seditious  and  factious  temper;  for  when  we  are 
engaged  with  so  powerful  an  enemy  from  without,  our 
political  salvation,  under  God,  does,  in  an  eminent  manner, 
depend  upon  our  being  firmly  united  together  in  the  bonds 
of  love  to  one  another,  and  of  due  submission  to  lawful 
authority.  I  hope  we  shall  never  give  any  just  occasion  to 
our  adversaries  to  reproach  us  as  being  men  of  turbulent 
dispositions  and  licentious  principles,  that  cannot  bear  to 
be  restrained  by  good  and  wholesome  laws,  even  though 
they  are  of  our  own  making,  nor  submit  to  rulers  of  our 
own  choosing.  But  I  have  reason  to  hope  much  better 
things  of  my  countrymen,  though  I  thus  speak.  However, 
in  this  time  of  difficulty  and  distress,  we  cannot  be  too 
much  guarded  against  the  least  approaches  to  discord  and 
faction.  Let  us,  while  we  are  jealous  of  our  rights,  take 
heed  of  unreasonable  suspicions  and  evil  surmises  which 
have  no  proper  foundation ;  let  us  take  heed  lest  we  hurt 
the  cause  of  liberty  by  speaking  evil  of  the  ruler  of  the 
people. 


1776.  315 

Let  us  treat  our  rulers  with  all  that  honor  and  respect 
which  the  dignity  of  their  station  requires ;  but  let  it  be 
such  an  honor  and  respect  as  is  worthy  of  the  sons  of  free- 
dom to  give.  Let  us  ever  abhor  the  base  arts  that  are 
used  by  fawning  parasites  and  cringing  courtiers,  who  by 
their  low  artifices  and  base  flatteries  obtain  offices  and 
posts  which  they  are  unqualified  to  sustain,  and  honors  of 
which  they  are  unworthy,  and  oftentimes  have  a  greater 
number  of  places  assigned  them  than  any  one  person  of  the 
greatest  abilities  can  ever  properly  fill,  by  means  of  which 
the  community  becomes  greatly  injured,  for  this  reason, 
that  many  an  important  trust  remains  undischarged,  and 
many  an  honest  and  worthy  member  of  society  is  deprived 
of  those  honors  and  privileges  to  which  he  has  a  just 
right,  whilst  the  most  despicable,  worthless  courtier  is 
loaded  with  honorable  and  profitable  commissions.  In 
order  to  avoid  this  evil,  I  hope  our  legislators  will  always 
despise  flattery  as  something  below  the  dignity  of  a 
rational  mind,  and  that  they  will  ever  scorn  the  man  that 
will  be  corrupted  or  take  a  bribe.  And  let  us  all  resolve 
with  ourselves  that  no  motives  of  interest,  nor  hopes  of 
preferment,  shall  ever  induce  us  to  act  the  part  of  fawning 
courtiers  towards  men  in  power.  Let  the  honor  and  re- 
spect which  we  show  our  superiors  be  true  and  genuine, 
flowing  from  a  sincere  and  upright  heart. 

The  honors  that  have  been  paid  to  arbitrary  princes 
have  often  been  very  hypocritical  and  insincere.  Tyrants 
have  been  flattered  in  their  vices,  and  have  often  had  an 
idolatrous  reverence  paid  them.^  The  worst  princes  have 
been  the  most  flattered  and  adored ;  and  many  such,  in  the 
pagan  world,  assumed  the  title  of  gods,  and  had  divine 
honors  paid  them.  This  idolatrous  reverence  has  ever 
been  the  inseparable  concomitant  of  arbitrary  power  and 

1  See  pp.  98,  99,  100.  —  Ed. 


316 


tyrannical  government;  for  even  Christian  princes,  if  they 
have  not  been  adored  under  the  character  of  gods,  j^et  the 
titles  given  them  strongly  savor  of  blasphemy,  and  the 
reverence  paid  them  is  really  idolatrous.  What  right  has 
a  i^oor  sinful  worm  of  the  dust  to  claim  the  title  of  his 
most  sacred  Majesty  ?  Most  sacred  certainly  belongs  only 
to  God  alone,  — for  there  is  none  holy  as  the  Lord,  —  yet 
how  common  is  it  to  see  this  title  given  to  kings !  And 
how  often  have  we  been  told  that  the  king  can  do  no 
wrong  !^  Even  though  he  should  be  so  foolish  and  wicked 
as  hardly  to  be  capable  of  ever  being  in  the  right,  yet  still 
it  must  be  asserted  and  maintained  that  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  do  wrong  ! 

The  cruel,  savage  disposition  of  tyrants,  and  the  idola- 
trous reverence  that  is  paid  them,  are  both  most  beautifully 
exhibited  to  view  by  the  apostle  John  in  the  Revelation, 
thirteenth  chapter,  from  the  first  to  the  tenth  verse,  where 
the  apostle  gives  a  description  of  a  horrible  wild  beast* 


a  Wild  beast.  By  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  I  understand  the 
tyranny  of  arbitrary  princes,  viz.,  the  emperors  and  kings  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Roman  Empire,  and  not  the  tyranny  of  the  Pope  and  clergy;  for  the 
description  of  every  part  of  this  beast  will  answer  better  to  be  understood  of 
political  than  of  ecclesiastical  tyrants.  Thus  the  seven  heads  are  generally  inter- 
preted to  denote  the  several  forms  of  Roman  government;  the  ten  horns  are 
understood  of  the  ten  kingdoms  that  were  setup  in  the  Western  Empire;  and 
by  the  body  of  the  beast  it  seems  most  natural  to  understand  the  Eastern,  or 
Greek  Empire,  for  it  is  said  to  be  like  a  leopard.  This  image  is  taken  from  Dan- 
iel vii.  6,  where  the  third  beast  is  said  to  be  like  a  leopard.  Now,  by  the  third 
beast  in  Daniel  is  understood,  by  the  best  interpreters,  the  Grecian  Monarchy. 
It  is  well  known  that  John  frequently  borrows  his  images  from  Daniel,  and  I 
believe  it  will  be  found,  upon  a  critical  examination  of  the  matter,  that  when- 
ever he  does  so  he  means  the  same  thing  with  Daniel;  if  this  be  true  (as  I  am 
fully  persuaded  it  is),  then,  by  the  body  of  this  beast  being  like  a  leopard  in  the 
Revelation  of  John,  is  to  be  understood  the  Eastern,  or  Greek  Empire,  whicii 
was  that  part  of  the  old  Roman  Empire  that  remained  whole  for  several  ages 
after  the  Western  Empire  was  broken  into  ten  kingdoms.  Further:  after  the 
beast  was  risen  it  is  said  that  the  dragon  gave  him  his  seat.  Now,  by  the  dragon 
is  meant  the  devil,  who  is  represented  as  presiding  over  the  Roman  Empire  in  its 
pagan  state;  but  the  seat  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  its  pagan  state  was  Rome. 
Here,  then,  is  a  prophecy  that  the  emperor  of  the  East  should  become  possessed 

1  See  p.  94,  note  a.  —Ed. 


PREACHED  AT  BOSTON,   1776.  317 

"whicli  he  saw  rise  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns,  and  upon  his  heads  the  names  of  blasphemy. 
By  heads  are  to  be  understood  forms  of  government,  and 
by  blasphemy,  idolatry ;  so  that  it  seems  implied  that  there 
will  be  a  degree  of  idolatry  in  every  form  of  tyrannical 
government.  This  beast  is  represented  as  having  the  body 
of  a  leopard,  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  the  mouth  of  a  lion ; 
i.  €.,  a  horrible  monster,  possessed  of  the  rage  and  fury  of 
the  lion,  the  fierceness  of  the  bear,  and  the  swiftness  of  the 
leopard  to  seize  and  devour  its  prey.  Can  words  more 
strongly  point  out,  or  exhibit  in  more  lively  colors,  the 
exceeding  rage,  fury,  and  impetuosity  of  tyrants,  in  their 
destroying  and  making  havoc  of  mankind  ?  To  this  beast 
we  find  the  dragon  gave  his  power,  seat,  and  great  au- 
thority; i.  6.,  the  devil  constituted  him  to  be  his  vicegerent 
on  earth;  this  is  to  denote  that  tyrants  are  the  ministers 
of  Satan,  ordained  by  him  for  the  destruction  of  mankind. 
Such  a  horrible  monster,  we  should  have  thought,  would 
have  been  abhorred  and  detested  of  all  mankind,  and  that 


of  Eome,  which  exactly  agrees  with  what  we  know  from  history  to  be  fact;  for 
the  Emperor  Justinian's  generals  having  expelled  the  Goths  out  of  Italy,  Rome 
was  brought  into  subjection  to  the  emperor  of  the  East,  and  was  for  a  long  time 
governed  by  the  emperor's  lieutenant,  who  resided  at  Ravenna.  These  consid- 
erations convince  me  that  the  Greek  Empire,  and  not  the  Pope  and  his  clergy, 
is  to  be  understood  by  the  body  of  the  beast,  which  was  like  a  leopard.  And 
what  further  confirms  me  in  this  belief  is,  that  it  appears  to  me  that  the  Pope 
and  the  papal  clergy  are  to  be  understood  by  the  second  beast  which  we  read 
of  in  Revelation  xiii.  11—17,  for  of  him  it  is  said  that  "  he  had  two  horns  like  a 
lamb."  A  lamb,  we  know,  is  the  figure  by  which  Jesus  Christ  is  signified  in  the 
Revelation  and  many  other  parts  of  the  New  Testament.  The  Pope  claims  both 
a  temporal  and  spiritual  sovereignty,  denoted  by  the  two  horns,  under  the  char- 
acter of  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  yet,  under  this  high  pretence  of  being 
the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  speaks  like  a  dragon;  t.  e.,  he  promotes  idolatry  in 
the  Christian  Church,  in  like  manner  as  the  dragon  did  in  the  heathen  world. 
To  distinguish  him  from  the  first  beast,  he  is  called  (Revelation  xix.)  "the  false 
prophet  that  wrought  miracles;  "  i.  e.,  like  Mahomet,  he  pretends  to  be  a  law- 
giver, and  claims  infallibility,  and  his  emissaries  endeavor  to  confirm  this  doc- 
trine by  pretended  miracles.  How  wonderfully  do  all  these  characters  agree  to 
the  Pope!  Wlierefore  I  conclude  that  the  second,  and  not  the  first  beast,  denotes 
the  tyranny  of  the  Pope  and  his  clergy. 

27* 


318 


all  nations  would  have  joined  their  powers  and  forces 
together  to  oppose  and  utterly  destroy  him  from  off  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  but,  so  far  are  they  from  doing  this,  that, 
on  the  contrary,  they  are  represented  as  worshipping  him 
(verse  8)  :  "  And  all  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  worship 
him,"  viz.,  all  those  "whose  names  are  not  written  in  the 
Lamb's  book  of  life ; "  ^.  e.,  the  wicked  world  shall  pay  him 
an  idolatrous  reverence,  and  worship  him  with  a  godlike 
adoration.  What  can  in  a  more  lively  manner  show  the 
gross  stupidity  and  wickedness  of  mankind,  in  thus  tamely 
giving  up  their  just  rights  into  the  hands  of  tyrannical 
monsters,  and  in  so  readily  paying  them  such  an  unlimited 
obedience  as  is  due  to  God  alone  ? 

We  may  observe,  further,  that  these  men  are  said  (verse 
4)  to  "  worship  the  dragon  ;  " —  not  that  it  is  to  be  sup- 
posed that  they,  in  direct  terms,  paid  divine  homage  to 
Satan,  but  that  the  adoration  paid  to  the  beast,  who  was 
Satan's  vicegerent,  did  ultimately  centre  in  him.  Hence 
we  learn  that  those  who  pay  an  undue  and  sinful  venera- 
tion to  tyrants  are  properly  the  servants  of  the  devil; 
they  are  worshippers  of  the  prince  of  darkness,  for  in  him 
all  that  undue  homage  and  adoration  centres  that  is  given 
to  his  ministers.  Hence  that  terrible  denunciation  of 
divine  wrath  against  the  worshippers  of  the  beast  and  his 
image  :  "  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and 
receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand,  the  same 
shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God  which  is 
poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indigna- 
tion, and  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in 
the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lamb  ;  and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  for  ever 
and  ever:  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night,  who  wor- 
ship the  beast  and  his  image,  and  who  receive  the  mark  of 


1776.  319 

Lis  name.""  T\^e  have  here  set  forth  in  the  clearest  man- 
ner, by  the  inspired  apostle,  God's  abhorrence  of  tyranny 
and  tyrants,  together  with  the  idolatrous^  reverence  that 
their  wretched  subjects  are  wont  to  pay  them,  and  the 
awful  denunciation  of  divine  wrath  against  those  who  are 
guilty  of  this  undue  obedience  to  tyrants. 

Does  it  not,  then,  highly  concern  us  all  to  stand  fast  in 
the  liberty  wherewith  Heaven  hath  made  us  free,  and  to 
strive  to  get  the  victory  over  the  beast  and  his  image  — 
over  every  species  of  tyranny  ?  Let  us  look  upon  a  free- 
dom from  the  power  of  tyrants  as  a  blessing  that  cannot 
be  purchased  too  dear,  and  let  us  bless  God  that  he  has  so 
far  delivered  us  from  that  idolatrous  reverence  which  men 
are  so  very  apt  to  pay  to  arbitrary  tyrants ;  and  let  us 
pray  that  he  would  be  pleased  graciously  to  perfect  the 
mercy  he  has  begun  to  show  us  by  confounding  the  devices 
of  our  enemies  and  bringing  their  counsels  to  nought,  and 
by  establishing  our  just  rights  and  privileges  upon  such  a 
firm  and  lasting  basis  that  the  powers  of  earth  and  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it. 

Under  God,  every  person  in  the  community  ought  to 
contribute  his  assistance  to  the  bringing  about  so  glorious 
and  important  an  event ;  but  in  a  more  eminent  manner 
does  this  important  business  belong  to  the  gentlemen  that 
are  chosen  to  represent  the  people  in  this  General  Assem- 
bly, including  those  that  have  been  appointed  members  of 
the  Honorable  Council  Board. 

Honored  fathers,  we  look  up  to  you,  in  this  day  of  calam- 
ity and  distress,  as  the  guardians  of  our  invaded  rights, 
and  the  defenders  of  our  liberties  against  British  tyranny. 
You  are  called,  in  Providence,  to  save  your  country  from 

a  Eev.  xiv.  9,  10- 

1  See  pp.  48,  note  1;  49,  note  1;  98.  — Ed. 


320 


ruin.  A  trust  is  reposed  in  you  of  the  highest  importance 
to  the  community  that  can  be  conceived  of,  its  business 
the  most  noble  and  grand,  and  a  task  the  most  arduous 
and  difficult  to  accomplish  that  ever  engaged  the  human 
mind  —  I  mean  as  to  things  of  the  present  life.  But  as 
you  are  engaged  in  the  defence  of  a  just  and  righteous 
cause,  you  may  with  firmness  of  mind  commit  your  cause 
to  God,  and  depend  on  his  kind  providence  for  direction 
and  assistance.  You  will  have  the  fervent  wishes  and 
prayers  of  all  good  men  that  God  would  crown  all  your 
labors  with  success,  and  direct  you  into  such  measures  as 
shall  tend  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the 
community,  and  afibrd  you  all  that  wisdom  and  prudence 
which  is  necessary  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  state  at  this 
critical  period. 

Honored  fathers  of  the  House  of  Representatives  :  We 
trust  to  your  wisdom  and  goodness  that  you  will  be  led  to 
appoint  such  men  to  be  in  council  whom  you  know  to  be 
men  of  real  principle,  and  who  are  of  unblemished  lives ; 
that  have  shown  themselves  zealous  and  hearty  friends  to 
the  liberties  of  America ;  and  men  that  have  the  fear  of 
God  before  their  eyes ;  for  such  only  are  men  that  can  be 
depended  upon  ^uniformly  to  pursue  the  general  good. 

My  reverend  fathers  and  brethren  in  the  ministry  will 
remember  that,  according  to  our  text,  it  is  part  of  the 
work  and  business  of  a  gospel  minister^  to  teach  his  hear- 
ers the  duty  they  owe  to  magistrates.  Let  us,  their, 
endeavor  to  explain  the  nature  of  their  duty  faithfully, 
and  show  them  the  difference  between  liberty  and  licen- 
tiousness ;  and,  while  we  are  animating  them  to  oppose 
tyranny  and  arbitrary  power,  let  us  inculcate  upon  them 
the  duty  of  yielding  due  obedience  to  lawful  authority. 
In  order  to  the  right  and  faithful  discharge  of  this  part 

1  Scepp.  47,  53,  54.— Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTOX,    1776.  321 

of  our  ministry,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  thor- 
oughly study  the  law  of  nature,  the  rights  of  mankind, 
and  tlie  reciprocal  duties  of  governors  and  governed.  By 
this  means  we  shall  be  able  to  guard  them  against  the 
extremes  of  slavish  submission  to  tyrants  on  one  hand, 
and  of  sedition  and  licentiousness  on  the  other.  We  may, 
I  apprehend,  attain  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  law 
of  nature  and  the  rights  of  mankind,  while  we  remain 
ignorant  of  many  technical  terms  of  law,  and  are  utterly 
unacquainted  with  the  obscure  and  barbarous  Latin  that 
was  so  much  used  in  the  ages  of  popish  darkness  and 
superstition.^ 

To  conclude  :  While  we  are  fighting  for  liberty,  and 
striving  against  tyranny,  let  us  remember  to  fight  the  good 

1 "  The  old  forms  of  writs  and  legal  process  —  tlie  authority  of  '  The 
State,'  '  The  Commonwealth/  or  '  The  People/  being  substituted  for  that 
of  the  king  —  were  still  retained  in  all  the  states;  and,  out  of  a  pedantic 
spirit  of  imitation  on  the  part  of  the  lawyers,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
state  Legislatures  to  give  greater  simplicity  to  legal  proceedings,  the  forms 
and  practice  of  the  courts,  even  subsequently  to  the  Revolution,  were  made 
more  and  more  to  conform  to  English  technicalities.  This  spirit  on  the 
part  of  the  lawyers,  who  formed  a  very  influential  portion  of  every  state 
Legislature,  proved  a  serious  obstacle  to  all  attempted  reforms  and  sim- 
plifications of  the  law."  —  BUldreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol. 
iii.,  380,  381. 

By  recent  legislation  in  England  and  in  several  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  subject  of  evidence,  a  vast  accumulation  of  legal  subtleties  and 
refinements,  tending  to  hinder,  if  not  to  frustrate  justice,  has  been  thrown 
aside  among  the  i-ubbish  of  the  past,  —  curious  and  useless  learning. 
Much  has  been  done  to  simplify  the  conveyance  of  real  estate,  and  divest 
it  of  the  encumbrances  which  originated  in  early  times  and  another  condi- 
tion of  society ;  and  to  secm-e  to  women  their  rights  to  property,  by  sweep- 
ing away  the  fictions  which  reminded  us  of  former  barbarity;  and  special 
pleading  is  added  to  the  magnificent  hecatomb.  In  review  it  seems  as  if 
the  intent  had  been,  first,  to  drive  the  parties  out  of  court,  but,  if  they 
were  smart  enough  to  keep  in,  next  to  prevent  justice  between  them,  if 
the  subtlest  logic  and  ingenuity,  spun  out  to  the  thinnest  though  gravest 
nonsense,  could  do  it.  — Ed. 


322  THE   ELECTION   SERMON,    1776. 

jBght  of  faith,  and  earnestly  seek  to  be  delivered  from  that 
bondage  of  corruption  which  we  are  brought  into  by  sin, 
and  that  we  may  be  made  j^artakers  of  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  sons  and  children  of  God :  which  may  the  Father 
of  Mercies  grant  us  all,  through  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 


SERMON 

PREACHED    BEFORE    THE 

Honorable     COUNCIL, 

AND    THE    HONORABLE 

House   of  Representatives, 

OF     THE 

State    of  Massachusetts-Bay, 

IN 

New-England, 

AT 

Boston, 

May    27,    1778. 

Being  the  Anniversary  for  the  Election 
of  the  honorable  council. 

By   PHILLIPS    PAYSON,    A.    M. 

Pastor  of  a  Church  in  Chelsea. 

B    O    S    T    O    N  :     N.    E, 

Printed    by    JOHN    GILL,    Printer  to    the 

general   assembly. 


M.  DCC.  LXXVIII. 


State  of  Massachusetts-Bay,  Council  Chamber,  May  28, 1778. 

Ordered,  That  Moses  Gill,  Henry  Gardner,  and  Timothy  Danielson,  Esquires, 
be  a  Committee  to  wait  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Phillips  Payson,  and  return  him 
the  thanks  of  the  Board  for  his  Sermon  delivered  yesterday  before  both  Houses 
of  Assembly;  and  request  a  copy  thereof  for  the  press. 

JOHN  AVERY,  D.  Secretary. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


In  a  note  to  Lord  North,  dated  February  4,  1774,  George  III.  wrote  that 
"General  Gage,  though  just  returned  from  Boston,  expresses  his  willing- 
ness to  go  back  at  a  day's  notice,  if  convenient  measures  are  adopted. 
He  says  they  will  be  lions  while  we  are  lambs;  but  if  we  take  the 
resolute  part,  they  will  undoubtedly  prove  very  meek.  Four  regiments, 
sent  to  Boston,  will,  he  thinks,  be  sufficient  to  prevent  any  disturbance. 
All  men  now  feel  that  the  fatal  compliance  in  1766  has  increased  the 
pretensions  of  the  Americans  to  thorough  independence." 

Generals  Howe,  Clinton,  and  Burgoyne,  going  into  Boston,  May  25, 
1774,  asked  the  skipper  of  a  packet,  outward  bound,  what  news  there 
was.  He  replied  that  Boston  was  surrounded  by  ten  thousand  country 
people.  "What!"  Burgoyne  exclaimed,  "ten  thousand  peasants  keep 
five  thousand  king's  troops  shut  up!  Well,  let  us  get  in,  and  we'll  soon 
find  elbow-room."  The  presumptuous  and  confident  general  was  soon  to 
find  snug  quarters  among  those  same  "  peasants,"  with  hardly  enough  of 
"elbow-room"  for  comfortable  reflection.! 

On  the  17th  of  October,  1777,  at  Saratoga,  General  Burgoyne  surren- 
dered his  sword  to  General  Gates.  "  After  dinner,  the  American  army 
was  drawn  up,  in  parallel  lines,  on  each  side  of  the  road,  extending  nearly 
a  mile.  Between  these  victorious  troops  the  British,  with  light  infantry 
in  front,  and  escorted  by  a  company  of  light  dragoons,  preceded  by  two 
mounted  officers  bearing  the  American  flag,  marched  to  the  lively  tune  of 

1  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  114.  Mr.  F.  says  that  Burgoyne  loved  a 
joke,  and  used  to  relate  that,  "while  a  prisoner  of  war,  he  was  received  with 
great  courtesy  by  tlie  Boston  people  as  he  stepped  from  the  Charlestown  ferry- 
boat, but  he  was  really  annoyed  when  an  old  lady,  perched  on  a  shed  above  the 
crowd,  cried  out,  at  the  top  of  a  shrill  voice,  '  Make  way  I  make  way!  — the  gen- 
eral 's  coming !    Give  him  elbow-room ! '  " 

28 


326 


Yankee  Doodle."  i  General  Burgoyne  glittered  in  his  uniform.  Gates 
was  in  his  plain  blue  frock,  and  each  of  the  American  soldiers  had  on 
"the  clothes  which  he  wore  in  the  fields,  the  church,  or  the  tavern. 
They  stood,  however,  like  soldiers,  well  arranged,  and  with  a  military  air, 
in  which  there  was  but  little  to  find  fault  with.  All  the  muskets  had 
bayonets,  and  the  sharp-shooters  had  rifles.  The  men  all  stood  so  still 
that  we  were  filled  with  wonder.  Not  one  of  them  made  a  single  motion, 
as  if  he  would  speak  with  his  neighbor.  Nay,  more,  all  the  lads  that 
stood  there  in  rank-and-file  kind  nature  had  formed  so  trim,  so  slender,  so 
nervous,  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  look  at  them,  and  we  were  all  surprised 
at  the  sight  of  such  a  handsome,  well-formed  race.  In  all  earnestness," 
says  the  same  Hessian  officer,2  "  English  America  surpasses  the  most  of 
Europe  in  the  growth  and  looks  of  its  male  population.  The  whole  nation 
has  a  natural  talent  for  war  and  a  soldier's  life." 

The  ministry  were  assailed  in  Parliament  for  their  employment  of  the 
Indians  against  the  Americans.  One  of  the  secretaries  defended  it,  con- 
cluding, "  It  is  perfectly  justifiable  to  use  all  the  means  that  God  and 
nature  have  put  into  our  hands." — "That  God  and  nature  put  into  our 
hands!"  repeated  Chatham,  with  contemptuous  abhorrence;  "I  know 
not  what  idea  that  lord  may  entertain  of  God  and  nature,  but  I  know 
that  such  abominable  principles  are  equally  abhorrent  to  religion  and 
humanity.  What!  attribute  the  sacred  sanction  of  God  and  nature  to 
the  massacre  of  the  Indian  scalping-knife !  —  to  the  cannibal  and  savage 
torturing,  murdering,  roasting,  and  eating  —  literally,  my  lords,  eating  — 
the  mangled  victims  of  his  barbarous  battles !  .  .  .  The  abominable 
principles,  and  this  most  abominable  avowal  of  them,  demand  most 
decisive  indignation.  I  call  upon  i?7ia^  right  reverend  bench," — pointing  to 
the  bishops,  —  "  those  holy  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  pious  pastors  of  the 
church,  —  I  conjure  them  to  join  in  the  holy  work,  and  to  vindicate  the 
religion  of  their  God."  That  appeal  was  in  vain.  The  chief  of  that  bench 
was  at  the  head  of  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  their  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts"  in  America;  the  end  justified  the  means;  and,  beside, 
implicit  obedience  was  their  "badge." 3  Mayhew  had  denounced  their 
principles  and  object  in  1750  and  afterward.  They  knew  the  utter  hostility 
of  America*  to  their  rule,  and  their  only  hope  now  was  in  violence.* 

1  Lossing's  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,  i.  81. 

2  living's  Washington,  Lond.  Ed.,  vol.  iii.  905.  3  See  p.  42. 

4  See  pp.  xxix.,  41,  44,  52,  88,  100, 103, 109,  110, 160, 175, 195,  197,  218. 

5  See  pp.  xxxi.,  xxxii.,  and  Peters'  letter,  p.  195. 


327 


The  glad  news  from  Saratoga  was  like  the  noonday  sun  on  the  gloom, 
and  heaviness,  engendered  by  continued  reverses  and  suffering,  pervading 
the  colonies;  it  sti'engthened  the  heart  of  Washington,  infused  new  life 
into  the  legislative  councils,  inspirited  the  people;  and  in  the  providential 
ordering  of  events,  which  human  foresight  or  pmdence  could  not  have 
anticipated  or  prevented,  and  on  which  hinged  the  great  issue,  the  faith 
of  all  was  confirmed  that  God  was  with  them,  as  he  had  been  with  their 
fathers.  An  incident,  close  in  time  with  this  auspicious  and  splendid 
achievement,  illumines  the  record  of  our  history,  and  by  its  light  we  may 
see  the  source  of  that  marvellous  strength  in  weakness,  and  endurance  in 
trial,  which  George  III.,  Lord  North,  and  that  "right  reverend  bench" 
could  never  comprehend,  nor  their  wit  or  power  overcome.  It  was  an 
order  of  Congi-ess,  directing  the  Committee  of  Commerce  to  import 
twenty  thousand  copies  of  the  Bible,  the  great  political  text-book  of  the 
patriots. 1 

The  enormous  and  unavailing  expenditures  of  England  against  her 
colonies,  the  failure  of  her  generals,  of  greatest  reputation  and  success  iu 
Europe,  in  then-  American  campaigns,  and  the  animation  and  good  cheer 
of  the  patriot  heart,  dispirited  the  tories,  the  "  friends  of  government." 

On  the  1.5th  of  November,  the  thirteen  colonies  confederated  under  the 
style  of  "  The  United  States  of  America,"  and  presented  a  consolidated 
front  to  George  HI.,  who  might  see  on  their  national  coin,  not  his  own 
now  hated  and  discarded  royal  cflflgy,  but  the  motto  "  We  are  one,"  which, 
passing  from  palm  to  palm,  linked  every  heart  in  one  united  whole.  In 
the  midst  of  this  prosperity,  on  the  recommendation  of  Congress,  the  18th 
day  of  December  was  observed  as  a  day  of  solemn  thanksgiving  and 
praise  throughout  the  United  States. 

On  the  sixth  of  February,  1778,  France  —  hesitating  till  after  the  tidings 
of  the  capture  of  General  Burgoyne,  giving  decisive  evidence  of  the  vigor 
of  the  American  character,  and  of  their  ultimate  success  —  formed  an  alli- 
ance with  the  "  United  States,"  as  an  independent  nation,  and  from  this 
time  there  was  a  feeling  that  the  question  was  not  as  to  the  final  result  of 
the  war,  but  only  how  long  George  HI.  would  persist  in  fighting,  and  how 
long  England  would  endure  his  blind  obstinacy  and  folly.  As  in  the  other 
colonies,  or  "states,"  as  they  now  were,  so  in  Massachusetts,  old  ties  and 
authorities  being  thrown  aside,  and  new  governments  being  only  in  incep- 
tion, it  was  a  period  when  executive  authority  and  decision  were  most 
needed,  and  yet  were  weakest ;  and  the  disorder  of  anarchy  and  revolution 

1  See  p.  262. 


328  editor's  prefatory  note. 

were  averted  only  by  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  demonstrat- 
ing the  truth  that  "  where  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  found  in  its  genuine 
vigor,  it  produces  its  genuine  effects,  .  .  .  and  can  never  endanger  a 
state  unless  its  root  and  source  is  corrupted."  A  constitution,  agreed 
upon  by  a  State  Convention,  February  28,  1778,  was  then  before  the  peo- 
ple for  their  consideration,  and  Mr.  Payson's  Sermon,  appropriate  to  the 
time,  had  particular  reference  to  the  subject  of  government.  Its  practical 
wisdom,  its  profound  observations  on  man,  on  the  dangers  and  safeguards 
of  liberty,  on  religion,  morality,  and  education,  rather  than  large  statis- 
tics of  material  wealth,  as  the  greatest  good,  and  the  true  test  of  prosper- 
ity —  on  the  character  and  requisites  of  good  magistracy,  and  on  the  diffi- 
culties of  free  institutions,  all  are  treated  on  such  broad  and  comprehensive 
principles  of  universal  and  perpetual  truth,  that  his  sermon  is  adapted  to 
all  times,  and  may  be  pondered,  perhaps,  with  peculiar  advantage  at  this 
day. 

The  preacher.  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips  Payson,  son  of  Rev.  Phillips  Pay- 
son,  of  "Walpole,  Massachusetts,  was  born  January  18,  1736,  educated  at 
Harvard  College,  1754,  ordained  at  Chelsea,  October  26,  1757,  and  died 
January  11,  1801,  aged  sixty-four,  after  a  life  of  great  value  to  his  own 
people  and  to  his  country.  He  was  of  a  family  noted  in  many  gener- 
ations for  piety  and  usefulness.  The  name  of  Phillips  is  identified  with 
venerable  institutions  of  learning,  and  that  of  Payson  is  dear  to  the  Chris- 
tian world.  Mr.  Payson  was  distinguished  as  a  classical  scholar,  for  his 
studies  in  natural  philosophy  and  astronomy,  and  for  his  fidelity  as  a 
Christian  pastor  and  teacher,  but  has,  perhaps,  a  stronger  claim  to  our 
grateful  remembrance  as  a  high-minded  patriot  in  the  days  of  his  coun- 
try's peril,  difficulty,  and  darkness.  We  find  in  the  pages  of  his  friend 
Gordon's  History  of  the  Revolution  an  incident  illustrative  of  the  times 
and  of  his  character.  It  is  this :  The  British  forces,  on  their  inglorious 
retreat  towards  Boston,  after  their  raid  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  suffered 
from  the  fire  of  the  provincial  sharp-shooters.  A  few  of  these,  headed  by 
Mr,  Payson,  who  till  now  had  been  extremely  moderate,  attacked  a  party  of 
twelve  soldiers,  carrying  stores  to  the  retreating  troops,  killed  one, 
wounded  several,  made  the  whole  prisoners,  and  gained  possession  of  their 
arms  and  stores,  without  any  loss  whatever  to  themselves.  The  preacher 
suited  the  action  to  the  word  and  the  word  to  the  action,  in  his  part  of  the 
national  tragedy. 


DISCOURSE    VII 


ELECTION  SERMON. 


BUT  JERUSALEM,  WHICH  IS  ABOVE,  IS  FREE,  WHICH  IS  THE  MOTHER  OF  US 
ALL.  SO  THEN,  BRETHREN,  WE  ARE  NOT  CHILDREN  OF  THE  BOND  WO- 
MAN,   BUT  OF  THE  FREE.  —  Gal.  iv.  26,  31. 


It  is  common  for  the  inspired  writers  to  speak  of  the 
gospel  dispensation  in  terms  applicable  to  the  heavenly- 
world,  especially  when  they  view  it  in  comparison  with  the 
law  of  Moses.  In  this  light  they  consider  the  church  of 
God,  and  good  men  upon  earth,  as  members  of  the  church 
and  family  of  God  above,  and  liken  the  liberty  of  Christians 
to  that  of  the  citizens  of  the  heavenly  Zion.  We  doubt 
not  but  the  Jerusalem  above,  the  heavenly  society,  pos- 
sesses the  noblest  liberty  to  a  degree  of  perfection  of  which 
the  human  mind  can  have  no  adequate  conception  in  the 
present  state.  The  want  of  that  knowledge  and  rectitude 
they  are  endowed  with  above  renders  liberty  and  govern- 
ment so  imperfect  here  below. 

Next  to  the  liberty  of  heaven  is  that  which  the  sons  of 
God,  the  heirs  of  glory,  possess  in  this  life,  in  which  they 
are  freed  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  the  tyranny  of 
evil  lusts  and  j^assions,  described  by  the  apostle  "by  being 
made  free  from  sin,  and  becoming  the  servants  of  God." 
These  kinds  of  liberty  are  so  nearly  related,  that  the  latter 
is  considered  as  a  sure  pledge  of  the  former ;  and  there- 
fore all  good  men,  all  true  believers,  in  a  special  sense  are 

28* 


330 


children  of  the  free  woman,  heirs  of  the  promise.  This 
religious  or  spiritual  liberty  must  be  accounted  the  greatest 
happiness  of  man,  considered  in  a  private  capacity.  But 
considering  ourselves  here  as  connected  in  civil  society, 
and  members  one  of  another,  we  must  in  this  view  esteem 
civil  liberty  as  the  greatest  of  all  human  blessings.  This 
admits  of  different  degrees,  nearly  projjortioned  to  the 
morals,  capacity,  and  principles  of  a  i^eoj^le,  and  the  mode 
of  government  they  adopt ;  for,  like  the  enjoyment  of 
other  blessings,  it  supposes  an  aptitude  or  taste  in  the  pos- 
sessor. Hence  a  people  formed  upon  the  morals  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  gospel  are  capacitated  to  enjoy  the  highest 
degree  of  civil  liberty,  and  will  really  enjoy  it,  unless  pre- 
vented by  force  or  fraud. 

Much  depends  upon  the  mode  and  administration  of 
civil  government  to  complete  the  blessings  of  liberty ;  for 
although  the  best  possible  plan  of  government  never  can 
give  an  ignorant  and  vicious  people  the  true  enjoyment  of 
liberty,  yet  a  state  may  be  enslaved  though  its  inhabitants 
in  general  may  be  knowing,  virtuous,  and  heroic.  The 
voice  of  reason  and  the  voice  of  God  both  teach  us  that 
the  great  object  or  end  of  government  is  the  public  good. 
Nor  is  there  less  certainty  in  determining  that  a  free  and 
righteous  government  originates  from  the  people,  and  is 
under  their  direction  and  control ;  and  therefore  a  free, 
popular  model  of  government  —  of  the  republican  kind  — 
may  be  judged  the  most  friendly  to  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people,  and  the  most  conducive  to  the 
public  welfare. 

On  account  of  the  infinite  diversity  of  opinions  and 
interests,  as  well  as  for  other  weighty  reasons,  a  govern- 
ment altogether  popular,  so  as  to  have  the  decision  of 
cases  by  assemblies  of  the  body  of  the  jieople,  cannot  be 
thought  so  eligible  ;  nor  yet  that   a  people   should  dele- 


331 

i 

gate  their  power  and   authority  to  one   single  man,  or  to 

one  body  of  men,  or,  indeed,  to  any  hands  whatever,  ex- 
cepting for  a  short  term  of  time.^  A  form  of  government 
may  be  so  constructed  as  to  have  useful  checks  in  the 
legislature,  and  yet  capable  of  acting  with  union,  vigor, 
and  despatch,  with  a  representation  equally  proportioned, 
preserving  the  legislative  and  executive  branches  distinct, 
and  the  great  essentials  of  liberty  be  preserved  and  secured. 
To  adjust  such  a  model*  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  nice 
and  difficult  matter  ;=^  and,  when  adjusted,  to  render  it 
respectable,  permanent,  and  quiet,  the  circumstances  of 
the  state,  and  the  capacities  and  morals  both  of  rulers 
and  people,  are  not  only  of  high  importance,  but  of  abso- 
lute necessity. 

a  The  form  or  constitution  of  government  that  has  been  submitted  to  the 
people  of  this  state  so  amply  secures  the  essentials  of  liberty,  places  and  keeps 
the  power  so  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  is  so  concise  and  explicit,  and 
makes  such  an  easy  step  from  the  old  to  the  new  form,  that  it  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered as  a  high  evidence  of  the  abilities  of  its  compilers;  and  if  it  should  not 
be  complied  with,  it  is  very  probable  we  never  shall  obtain  a  better. 

1  "  Sometimes  it  is  said  that  man  cannot  be  trusted  with  the  government 
of  himself;  can  he,  then,  be  trusted  with  the  government  of  others  ?  Or 
have  we  found  angels,  in  the  form  of  kings,  to  govern  him  ?  Let  history 
answer  this  question."  —  Jefferson.     1801.  —  Ed. 

2  **  A  Constitution  and  Form  of  Government  for  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  agreed  upon  by  the  Convention  of  said  State,  February  28, 
1778,  to  be  laid  before  the  several  Towns  and  Plantations  in  said  State  for 
their  approbation  or  disapprobation,"  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-three  pages, 
was  disti'ibuted  among  the  towns,  by  vote  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
March  4,  1778.  The  constitution  was  rejected.  Ten  thousand  votes  were 
against  it,  two  thousand  Azotes  in  its  favor;  one  hundred  and  twenty  towms 
made  no  returns.  It  contained  no  bill  of  rights ;  did  not  properly  separate 
the  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  functions;  "  allowed'*  the  free  exer- 
cise and  enjoyment  of  religious  worship,  whereas  that  is  an  inalienable 
right;  did  not  provide  an  equal  representation;  and  many  other  objections 
were  stated.  It  was  thought  best  to  postpone  the  framing  of  a  constitu- 
tion till  more  peaceful  and  settled  times,  and  that  it  should  then  be  done 
by  delegates  specially  chosen  for  the  service.  Barry's  History  of  Massa- 
chusetts, iii.  ch.  v.,  gives  a  very  clear  account  of  the  subject.  —  Ed. 


332  THE   ELECTION   SERMOX, 

It  by  no  means  becomes  me  to  assume  the  airs  of  a 
dictator,  by  delineating  a  model  of  government;  but  I 
shall  ask  the  candid  attention  of  this  assembly  to  some 
things  respecting  a  state,  its  rulers  and  inhabitants,  of 
high  importance,  and  necessary  to  the  being  and  continu- 
ance of  such  a  free  and  righteous  government  as  we  wish 
for  ourselves  and  posterity,  and  hope,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  to  have  ere  long  established. 

In  this  view,  it  is  obvious  to  observe  that  a  spirit  of 
liberty  should  in  general  prevail  among  a  people;  their 
minds  should  be  possessed  with  a  sense  of  its  worth  and 
nature.  Facts  and  observation  abundantly  teach  us  that 
the  minds  of  a  community,  as  well  as  of  individuals,  are 
subject  to  different  and  various  casts  and  impressions.  The 
inhabitants  of  large  and  opulent  empires  and  kingdoms 
are  often  entirely  lost  to  a  sense  of  liberty,  in  which  case 
they  become  an  easy  prey  to  usurpers  and  tyrants.  Where 
the  spirit  of  liberty  is  found  in  its  genuine  vigor  it  pro- 
duces its  genuine  effects;  urging  to  the  greatest  vigilance 
and  exertions,  it  will  surmount  great  difficulties ;  [so]  that  it 
is  no  easy  matter  to  deceive  or  conquer  a  people  determined 
to  be  free.  The  exertions  and  effects  of  this  great  spirit 
in  our  land  have  already  been  such  as  may  well  astonish 
the  world ;  and  so  long  as  it  generally  prevails  it  will  be 
quiet  with  no  species  of  government  but  what  befriends 
and  protects  it.  Its  jealousy  for  its  safety  may  sometimes 
appear  as  if  verging  to  faction ;  but  it  means  well,  and 
can  never  endanger  a  state  unless  its  root  and  source  is 
corrupted. 

Free  republican  governments  have  been  objected  to,  as 
if  exposed  to  factions  from  an  excess  of  liberty.  The  Gre- 
cian states  are  mentioned  for  a  proof,  and  it  is  allowed 
that  the  history  of  some  of  those  commonwealths  is  little 
else  but  a  narration  of  factions ;  but  it  is  justly  denied 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1778.  333 

that  the  true  spirit  of  liberty  produced  tliese  effects.  Vio- 
lent and  opposing  parties/  shaking  the  pillars  of  the  state, 
may  arise  under  the  best  forms  of  government.  A  gov- 
ernment, from  various  causes,  may  be  thrown  into  convul- 
sions, like  the  Roman  state  in  its  latter  periods,  and,  like 
that,  may  die  of  the  malady.  But  the  evils  which  happen 
in  a  state  are  not  always  to  be  charged  upon  its  govern- 
ment, much  less  upon  one  of  the  noblest  principles  that 
can  dwell  in  the  human  breast.  There  are  diseases  in 
government,  like  some  in  the  human  body,  that  lie  undis- 
covered till  they  become  wholly  incurable. 

The  baneful  effects  of  exorbitant  wealth,  the  lust  of 
power,  and  other  evil  passions,  are  so  inimical  to  a  free, 
righteous  government,  and  find  such  an  easy  access  to  the 
human  mind,  that  it  is  difficult,  if  possible,  to  keep  up  the 
spirit  of  good  government,  unless  the  spirit  of  liberty  pre- 
vails in  the  state.  This  spirit,  like  other  generous  growths 
of  nature,  flourishes  best  in  its  native  soil.  It  has  been 
engrafted,  at  one  time  and  another,  in  various  countries : 
in  America  it  shoots  up  and  grows  as  in  its  natural  soil. 
Recollecting  our  pious  ancestors,  the  first  settlers  of  the 
country,  —  nor  shall  we  look  for  ancestry  beyond  that 
period,^ — and  we  may  say,  in  the  most  literal  sense,  we 

1  "  Let  me  vram  rou  in  the  most  solemn  manner  ag:ainst  the  baneful 
effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally.  ...  In  governments  of  the  popular 
form  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst  enemy; .  .  . 
in  governments  purely  elective  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged.  From 
their  natural  tendency  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be  enough  of  that 
spirit  for  every  salutary  purpose ;  and,  there  being  such  constant  danger 
of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be,  by  force  of  public  opinion,  to  mitigate 
and  assuage  it.  A  fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform  vigilance 
to  prevent  its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead  of  warming,  it  should 
consume." — Washington.  —  Ed. 

2  It  is  a  mistaken  pride  and  a  fallacy  which  would  lead  ns  not  to  look  for 
our  origin  beyond  the  Atlantic.  "We  cannot  know  ourselves  or  our  history 
without   this.     America,  isolated  from    the  Old  World  bravely  warring 


334 


are  children,  not  of  the  bond  woman,  but  of  the  free.  It 
may  hence  well  be  expected  that  the  exertions  and  effects 
of  American  liberty  should  be  more  vigorous  and  com- 
plete. It  has  the  most  to  fear  from  ignorance  and  ava- 
rice ;  for  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  people  to  lose 
sight  of  their  liberty  in  the  eager  pursuit  of  wealth,  as  the 
states  of  Holland  have  done ;  and  it  will  always  be  as 
easy  to  rob  an  ignorant  people  of  their  liberty  as  to  pick 
the  pockets  of  a  blind  man. 

The  slavery  of  a  people  is  generally  founded  in  igno- 
rance of  some  kind  or  another ;  and  there  are  not  wanting 
such  facts  as  abundantly  prove  the  human  mind  may  be 
so  sunk  and  debased,  through  ignorance  and  its  natural 
effects,  as  even  to  adore  its  enslaver,  and  kiss  its  chains. 
Hence  knowledge  and  learning  may  well  be  considered  as 
most  essentially  requisite  to  a  free,  righteous  government. 


against  and  slowly  upheaving  and  overturning  hereditary  wrong,  was 
exclusively  appropriated  by  the  advance  guard  of  Christian  humanity,  by 
actual  possession,  at  Plymouth,  in  1620;  and  the  spirit  of  liberty,  freed 
from  hoary  hindrances,  vigorously  put  forth  her  strength  and  glory.  But 
liberty  was  not  born  here;  and  we  cannot  learn  her  lineage,  nor  that  of 
our  Puritan  ancestors,  —  her  devotees,  —  nor  appreciate  the  cost  and 
wealth  of  our  inheritance,  without  the  study  of  English  history,  and  civil- 
ization, and  of  the  Reformation;  for  the  fruits  of  all  this  were  simpl}^  trans- 
planted to  our  shoi-es  by  the  children  of  those  who  wrought  it.  Alfred  is 
ours,  and  Runnemede,  and  Edward  VI.,  and  Elizabeth;  Raleigh,  Bacon, 
and  Shakspeare;  Hampden,  Milton,  Cromwell,  Sydney,  yes,  and  "King 
Charles  the  martyr,"  are  ours;  and  it  is  our  glory  that  we  continue  the 
roll  with  the  magnificent  names  of  Washington,  Franklin,  and  Edwards, 
—  an  earnest,  may  we  hope,  of  our  future. 

The  beautiful  opening  of  Gibbon's  "Memoirs  of  ray  Life  and  Writ- 
ings," written  in  his  usual  philosophical  vein,  is  a  charming  passage  for 
all  those  who  feel  that  "  lively  desire  of  knowing  and  of  recording  our 
ancestors,"  which  "  so  generally  prevails,  that  it  must  depend  on  the  influ- 
ence of  some  common  principle  in  the  minds  of  men."  "  Remember  from 
whom  you  sprang,"  exclaimed  John  Hancock,  when  he  proposed  a  gen- 
eral Colonial  Congress.  —  Ed. 


1778.  335 

A  republican  government  and  science  mutually  promote 
and  support  each  other.  Great  literary  acquirements  are 
indeed  the  lot  of  but  few,  because  but  few  in  a  conmiunity 
have  ability  and  opportunity  to  pursue  the  paths  of  sci- 
ence ;  but  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  be  diffused  through  a  state  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  its  liberties  and  the  quiet  of  government. 

Every  kind  of  useful  knowledge  will  be  carefully  encour- 
aged and  promoted  by  the  rulers  of  a  free  state,  unless 
they  should  happen  to  be  men  of  ignorance  themselves ;  in 
which  case  they  and  the  community  will  be  in  danger  of 
sharing  the  fate  of  blind  guides  and  their  followers.  The 
education  of  youth,  by  instructors  properly  qualified,''  the 
establishment  of  societies  for  useful  arts  and  sciences,  the 
encouragement  of  persons  of  superior  abilities,  will  always 
command  the  attention  of  wise  rulers. 

The  late  times  of  our  glorious  struggle  have  not  indeed 
been  favorable  to  the  cause  of  education  in  general,  though 
much  useful  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  our  country, 
of  the  science  of  arms,  of  our  abilities  and  strength,  and 
of  our  natural  rights  and  liberties,  has  been  acquired; 
great  improvements  have  also  been  made  in  several  kinds 
of  manufactory.^    But  our  security  and  the  public  welfare 


n  The  want  of  proper  instructors,  and  a  proper  method  of  instructing,  are  the 
reason  that  what  we  call  common  education,  or  school-learning,  is  generally  so 
imperfect  among  us.  Youth  should  always  be  taught  by  strict  rule  in  reading, 
writing,  and  speaking,  and  so  in  all  parts  of  their  education.  By  this  means 
the  advantages  of  their  education  will  commonly  increase  with  their  age,  that 
by  a  little  application  in  their  riper  years  persons  may  raise  a  useful  superstruc- 
ture from  a  small  foundation  that  was  well  laid  at  school  in  their  earlier  days. 
It  would  be  of  eminent  service  if  instructors  would  more  generally  endeavor  to 
fix  in  the  minds  of  their  scholars  the  rules  of  reading,  of  spelling,  of  writing,  or 
of  whatever  branch  of  knowledge  they  teach. 

1  To  the  colonics,  fringing  the  Atlantic,  and  hemmed  in  by  primeval 
forests,  the  command  to  primitive  man  seemed  to  be  uttered  anew :  "  And 
God  blessed  them ;  and  God  said  unto  them.  Be  fruitful  and  multipl}^  and 
replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it;  and  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the 


336 


require  yet  greater  exertions  to  promote  education  and 
useful  knowledge.  Most  of  the  internal  difficulties  of  a 
state  commonly  arise  from  ignorance,  that  general  source 
of  error.  The  growls  of  avarice  and  curses  of  clowns  will 
generally  be  heard  when  the  public  liberty  and  safety  call 
for  more  generous  and  costly  exertions.  Indeed,  we  may 
never  expect  to  find  the  marks  of  public  virtue,  the  efforts 
of  heroism,  or  any  kind  of  nobleness,  in  a  man  who  has  no 
idea  of  nobleness  and  excellency  but  what  he  hoards  up  in 
his  barn  or  ties  up  in  his  purse. 

It  is  readily  allowed  there  have  not  been  wanting  states- 
men and  heroes  of  the  generous  growth  of  nature,  though 
instances  of  this  sort  are  not  so  common.  But  if  these 
had  been  favored  with  the  improvements  of  art,  they 
would  have  appeared  to  much  greater  advantage,  and  with 
brighter  lustre.     Nothing  within  the  compass  of  human 


sea;"  and  "  a  man  was  famous  according  as  he  had  h'fted  up  axes  on  the 
thick  trees."  Their  thrift  Avas  in  the  saw-mill,  the  ship-yard,  the  fisheries, 
commerce,  and,  last  of  all,  agriculture;  and  their  interest,  as  well  as  that 
of  England,  was  to  exchange  their  staples  for  the  manufactures  of  the 
mother  country.  But  the  industry  and  increase  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  had  wrought  a  change  in  the  condition  and  wants  of  the  people, 
so  that  the  more  compact  populations  naturally  turned  to  handicraft,  and 
the  new  political  relations  quickened  this  action.  Educated  labor  made 
vapid  progress  in  new  devices  for  economy  of  time  and  industry.  It  was 
encouraged  by  legislation,  and  stimulated  by  the  desire  of  independence. 
"  The  great  improvements  and  discoveries"  of  that  day  Avould  now  excite 
a  smile,  perhaps.  The  first  cotton-mill  in  America,  established  at  Beverly 
in  1788,  was  visited  by  Washington,  in  his  tour  through  the  country,  in 
1789.  A  periodical  of  the  day  described  it  as  "  a  complete  set  of  machines 
for  carding  and  spinning  cotton,  which  answered  the  warmest  expectations  of 
the  proprietors.  The  spinning-jenny  spins  sixty  threads  at  a  time,  and 
With  the  carding-machine  foi-ty  pounds  of  cotton  can  be  well  carded  per  day. 
The  warping-machine  and  the  other  tools  and  machinery  are  complete, 
performing  tlicir  varioiLS  operations  to  great  advantage,  and  promise  much 
benefit  to  the  public,  and  emolument  to  the  patriotic  adventurers." — Stone's 
Beverly,  1843,  p.  85.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1778.  337 

ability  is  of  that  real  weight  and  importance  as  the  educa- 
tion of  youth  — the  propagation  of  knowledge.^  Despot- 
ism and  tyranny  want  nothing  but  wealth  and  force,  but 
liberty  and  order  are  supported  by  knowledge  and  virtue. 

I  shall  also  mention  the  love  of  our  country,  or  public 
virtue,  as  another  essential  support  of  good  government 
and  the  public  liberties.  Xo  model  of  government  what- 
ever can  equal  the  importance  of  this  principle,  nor  afford 
proper  safety  and  security  without  it.  Its  object  being 
the  approbation  of  conscience,  and  its  motive  to  exertion 
being  the  public  welfare,  hence  it  can  only  dwell  in 
superior  minds,  elevated  above  private  interest  and  selfish 
views.  It  does  that  for  the  public  which  domestic  affec- 
tion does  among  real  friends ;  but,  like  other  excellences, 
is  more  frequently  pretended  to  than  possessed. 

In  the  ancient  Roman  republic  it  was  the  life  and  soul 
of  the  state  which  raised  it  to  all  its  glory,  being  always 
awake  to  the  public  defence  and  good;  and  in  every 
state  it  must,  under  Providence,  be  the  support  of  govern- 
ment, the  guardian  of  liberty,  or  no  human  wisdom  or 
policy  can  support  and  preserve  them.  Civil  society 
cannot  be  maintained  without  justice,  benevolence,  and 
the  social  virtues.  Even  the  government  of  the  Jerusalem 
above  could  not  render  a  vicious  and  abandoned  people 
quiet  and  happy.  The  children  of  the  bond  woman,  slaves 
to  vice,  can  never  be  free.     If  the  reason  of  the  mind, 

1  "  Patronize  every  rational  effort  to  encouraj^e  schools,  colleges,  univer- 
sities, academies,  and  every  institution  for  propagating  knowledge,  virtue, 
and  religion  among  all  classes  of  the  people,  not  only  for  their  benign 
influence  on  the  happiness  of  life  in  all  its  stages  and  classes,  and  of 
society  in  all  its  forms,  but  as  the  only  means  of  preserving  our  constitu- 
tion from  its  natural  enemies,  the  spirit  of  sophistry,  the  spirit  of  party, 
the  spirit  of  intrigue,  the  profligacy  of  corruption,  and  the  pestilence  of 
foreign  influence,  which  is  the  angel  of  destruction  to  elective  govern- 
ments."— President  Adams's  Inaugural,  1797.  — Ed. 

29 


338 


man's  immediate  rule  of  conduct,  is  in  bondage  to  cor- 
ruption, he  is  verily  the  worst  of  slaves.  Public  spirit, 
through  human  imperfection,  is  in  danger  of  degenerating 
to  selfish  passion,  which  has  a  malignant  influence  on 
public  measures.  This  danger  is  the  greater  because  the 
corruption  is  not  commonly  owned,  nor  soon  discerned. 
Such  as  are  the  most  diseased  with  it  are  apt  to  be  the 
most  insensible  to  their  error. 

The  exorbitant  wealth  of  individuals  has  a  most  baneful 
influence  on  public  virtue,  and  therefore  should  be  care- 
fully guarded  against.  It  is,  however,  acknowledged  to 
be  a  difiicult  matter  to  secure  a  state  from  evils  and  mis- 
chiefs from  this  quarter ;  because,  as  the  world  goes,  and 
is  like  to  go,  wealth  and  riches  will  have  their  command- 
ing influence.  The  public  interest  being  a  remoter  object 
than  that  of  self,  hence  persons  in  power  are  so  generally 
disposed  to  turn  it  to  their  own  advantage.  A  wicked 
rich  man,  we  see,  soon  corrupts  a  whole  neighborhood,  and 
a  few  of  them  will  poison  the  morals  of  a  whole  com- 
munity. This  sovereign  j^ower  of  interest  seems  to  have 
been  much  the  source  of  modern  politics  abroad,  and  has 
given  birth  to  such  maxims  of  policy  as  these,  viz.,  that 
"the  wealth  of  a  people  is  their  truest  honor,"  that  "every 
man  has  his  price,"  ^  that  "  the  longest  purse,  and  not  the 
longest  sword,  will  finally  be  victorious."  But  we  trust  and 
hope  that  American  virtue  will  be  sufficient  to  convince 
the  world  that  such  maxims  are  base,  are  ill-founded,  and 
altogether  unfit  and  improper  to  influence  and  lead  in 
government.  In  the  infancy  of  states  there  is  not  com- 
monly so  much  danger  of  these  mischiefs,  because  the  love 

1  Tlohert  Walpolc,  Eavl  of  Orford,  is  the  reputed  author  of  the  payini^ 
that  oil  men  have  their  price ;  but  his  bio<i:rapher,  Archdeacon  Cox, 
says  the  words  were  "  all  those  men,"  speaking  of  a  particuhir  party  in 
opposition.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1778.  339 

of  liberty  and  public  virtue  are  then  more  general  and 
vigorous ;  but  the  danger  is  apt  to  increase  with  the  wealth 
of  individuals.  These  observations  are  founded  upon 
such  well-known  facts,  that  the  rulers  of  a  free  state  have 
sufficient  warning  to  guard  against  the  evils.  The  general 
diffiision  of  knowledge  is  the  best  preservative  against 
them,  and  the  likeliest  method  to  beget  and  increase 
that  public  virtue,  which,  under  God,  will  prove,  like  the 
promises  of  the  gospel,  an  impregnable  bulwark  to  the 
state.  ^ 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  religion,  both  in  rulers  and 
people,  as  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  public.  This 
is  the  most  sacred  principle  that  can  dw^ell  in  the  human 
breast.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  men,  —  the 
most  perfective  of  the  human  soul.  The  truths  of  the 
gospel  are  the  most  pure,  its  motives  the  most  noble  and 
animating,  and  its  comforts  the  most  supporting  to  the 
mind.  The  importance  of  religion  to  civil  society  and 
government  is  great  indeed,  as  it  keeps  alive  the  best 
sense  of  moral  obligation,  a  matter  of  such  extensive 
utility,  especially  in  resj^ect  to  an  oath,  which  is  one  of  the 
principal  instruments  of  government.  The  fear  and  rever- 
ence of  God,  and  the  terrors  of  eternity,  are  the  most 
powerful  restraints  upon  the  minds  of  men ;  and  hence  it 
is  of  special  importance  in  a  free  government,  the  spirit 
of  which  being  always  friendly  to  the  sacred  rights  of 
conscience,  it  w'ill  hold  up  the  gospel  as  the  great  rule  of 
faith  and   practice.^      Established   modes  and  usages  in 

1  "  It  is  substantially  true  that  vii'tue,  or  morality,  is  a  necessary  spring 
of  popular  government.  Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  im- 
portance, institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge." — Washington. 
—  Ed. 

2  "  Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity, 
religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.    In  vain  would  that  man 


840 


religion,  more  especially  the  stated  public  worship  of  God, 
so  generally  form  the  principles  and  manners  of  a  people, 
that  changes  or  alterations  in  these,  especially  when  nearly 
conformed  to  the  spirit  and  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  may 
w^ell  be  esteemed  very  dangerous  experiments  in  govern- 
ment. For  this,  and  other  reasons,  the  thoughtful  and 
wise  among  us  trust  that  our  civil  fathers,  from  a  regard 
to  gospel  w^orship  and  the  constitution  of  these  churches, 
will  carefully  preserve  them,  and  at  all  times  guard  against 
every  innovation  that  might  tend  to  overset  the  public 
worship  of  God,  though  such  innovations  may  be  urged 
from  the  most  foaming  zeal.  Persons  of  a  gloomy, 
ghostly,  and  mystic  cast,  absorbed  in  visionary  scenes, 
deserve  but  little  notice  in  matters  either  of  religion  or 
government.  Let  the  restraints  of  religion  once  be  broken 
down,  as  they  infallibly  would  be  by  leaving  the  subject 
of  public  woi^hip  to  the  humors  of  the  multitude,^  and 
we  might  w^ell  defy  all  human  wisdom  and  power  to  sup- 
port and  preserve  order  and  government  in  the  state. 
Human  conduct  and  character  can  never  be  better  formed 


claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great 
pillars  of  human  happiness,  these  primest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  aud 
citizens.  Tlie  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  re- 
spect and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connections 
with  private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simph'  asked,  where  is  the 
security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obli- 
gation desert  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  courts 
of  justice?  And  let  us  Avith  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality 
can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the 
influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and 
experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in 
exclusion  of  religious  principles." — Washington's  Farewell.  —  Ed. 

1  This  strong  language  was  not  considered  extravagant.  By  "the 
humors  of  the  multitude,"  so  much  dreaded,  Avas  meant  simply  leaving 
public  worship  to  the  voluntary  support  of  the  community,  by  which  it  is 
now  sustained.    See  p.  181,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


1778.  341 

than  upon  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion ;  they  give 
the  justest  sense,  the  most  adequate  views,  of  the  duties 
between  rulers  and  people,  and  are  the  best  principles  in 
the  world  to  carry  the  ruler  through  the  duties  of  his 
station  ;  and  in  case  a  series  of  faithful  services  should  be 
followed  with  popular  censure,  as  may  be  the  case,  yet  the 
religious  ruler  will  find  the  approbation  of  his  conscience 
a  noble  reward. 

Many  other  things  might  be  mentioned  as  circumstances 
much  in  favor  of  a  free  government  and  public  liberty,  as 
where  the  inhabitants  of  a  state  can,  in  general,  give  their 
suffrages  in  person,  and  men  of  abilities  are  dispersed  in 
the  several  parts  of  a  state  capable  of  public  office  and 
station;  especially  if  there  is  a  general  distribution  of 
property,  and  the  landed  intei-est  not  engrossed  by  a  few, 
but  possessed  by  the  inhabitants  in  general  through  the 
state.  Things  of  this  nature  wear  a  kind  aspect.  But, 
for  the  preservation  and  permanence  of  the  state,  it  is  of 
still  higher  importance  that  its  internal  strength  be  sup- 
ported upon  the  great  pillars  of  capacity,  defence,  and 
union.  The  fall  liberty  of  the  press  —  that  eminent  in- 
strument of  promoting  knowledge,  and  great  palladium 
of  the  public  liberty  —  being  enjoyed,  the  learned  profes- 
sions directed  to  the  public  good,  the  great  principles  of 
legislation  and  government,  the  great  examples  and  truths 
of  history,  the  maxims  of  generous  and  upright  policy,  and 
the  severer  truths  of  philosophy  investigated  and  appre- 
hended by  a  general  application  to  books,  and  by  observa- 
tion and  experiment,  —  are  means  by  w^iich  the  capacity 
of  a  state  will  be  strong  and  respectable,  and  the  number 
of  superior  minds  will  be  daily  increasing.  Strength, 
courage,  and  military  discipline  being,  under  God,  the 
great  defence  of  a  state,  as  these  are  cultivated  and  im- 
proved the  public  defence  will  increase ;  and  if  there  is 

29* 


342 


added  to  these  a  general  union,  a  spirit  of  harmony,  the 
internal  strength  and  beauty  of  the  state  will  be  great 
indeed.  The  variety  and  freedom  of  opinion  is  apt  to 
check  the  union  of  a  free  state ;  and  in  case  the  union  be 
interrupted  merely  from  the  freedom  of  opinion,  contest- 
ing for  real  rights  and  privileges,  the  state  and  its  govern- 
ment may  still  be  strong  and  secure,  as  was,  in  fact,  the 
case  in  ancient  Rome,  in  the  more  disinterested  periods  of 
that  republic.  But  if  parties  and  factions,  arising  from 
false  ambition,  avarice,  or  revenge,  run  high,  they  endanger 
the  state,  which  was  the  case  in  the  latter  periods  of  the 
republic  of  Rome.  Hence  the  parties  in  a  free  state,  if 
aimed  at  the  public  liberty  and  welfare,  are  salutary ;  but 
if  selfish  interest  and  views  are  their  source,  they  are  both 
dangerous  and  destructive. 

The  language  of  just  complaint,  the  voice  of  real  griev- 
ance, in  most  cases  may  easily  be  distinguished  from  the 
mere  clamor  of  selfish,  turbulent,  and  disappointed  men. 
The  ear  of  a  righteous  government  will  always  be  open  to 
the  former;  its  hand  with  wisdom  and  prudence  will  sup- 
press the  latter.  And,  since  passion  is  as  natural  to  men 
as  reason,  much  discretion  should  be  used  to  calm  and 
quiet  disaffected  minds.  Coercives  in  government  should 
always  be  held  as  very  dangerous  political  physic :  such  as 
have  gone  into  the  practice  have  commonly  either  killed  or 
lost  their  patients. 

A  spirit  of  union  is  certainly  a  most  happy  omen  in  a 
state,  and,  upon  righteous  principles,  should  be  cultivated 
and  improved  with  diligence.  It  greatly  strengthens  pub- 
lic measures,  and  gives  them  vigor  and  dispatch  ;  so  tliat 
but  small  states,  when  united,  have  done  wonders  in  de- 
fending their  liberties  against  powerful  monarchs.  Of  this 
we  have  a  memorable  example  in  the  little  state  of  Athens, 
which  destroyed  the  fleet  of  Xerxes,  consisting  of  a  thou- 


PREACHED   AT  BOSTON,   1778.  343 

sand  ships,  and  drove  Darius  witli  his  army  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  men  out  of  Greece. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  much,  very  much,  depends 
upon  rulers  to  render  a  free  government  quiet,  permanent, 
and  respectful;  they  ought  therefore,  in  an  eminent  degree, 
to  possess  those  virtues  and  abilities  which  are  the  source 
and  support  of  such  a  government.^  The  modern  maxims 
of  policy  abroad,  the  base  arts  of  bribery  and  corruption, 
of  intrigue  and  dissimulation,  will  soon  be  productive  of 
evils  and  mischiefs  in  the  state  ;  and,  since  a  corruption  of 
manners  almost  necessarily  follows  a  corruption  of  policy, 
the  rulers  of  a  free  state  ought  to  be  influenced  by  the 
most  generous  and  righteous  principles  and  views.  Igno- 
rant and  designing  men  should  be  kept  from  public  ofiices 
in  the  state,  as  the  former  will  be  dupes  to  the  ambitious, 
and  the  latter  will  be  likely  to  prove  the  instruments  of 
discord.  Men,  upon  their  first  promotion,  commonly  act 
and  speak  with  an  air  of  meekness  and  difiidence,  which 
however  may  consist  with  firmness  and  resolution.  The 
practice  of  power  is  apt  to  dissipate  these  humble  airs ;  for 
this  and  other  reasons  it  may  generally  be  best  not  to  con- 
tinue persons  a  long  time  in  places  of  honor  and  emolu- 
ment. 

The  qualities  of  a  good  ruler  may  be  estimated  from  the 
nature  of  a  free  government.  Power  being  a  delegation, 
and  all  delegated  power  being  in  its  nature  subordinate 
and  limited,  hence  rulers  are  but  trustees,  and  government 
a  trust ;  therefore  fidelity  is  a  prime  qualification  in  a  ruler ; 
this,  joined  with  good  natural  and  acquired  abilities,  goes 
far  to  complete  the  character.  Natural  disposition  that  is 
benevolent  and  kind,  embellished  with  the  graceful  modes 
of  address,  agreeably  strike  the  mind,  and  hence,  in  prefer- 
ence to  greater  real  abilities,  will  commonly  carry  the  votes 

*  See  p.  69,  note  1,  p.  8G,  note  a,  pp.  1G2,  168.  — Ed. 


344 


of  a  people.  It  is,  however,  a  truth  in  fact,  that  persons 
of  this  cast  are  subject  to  a  degree  of  indolence,  from 
which  arises  an  aversion  to  those  studies  which  form  the 
great  and  active  patriot.  It  is  also  a  temper  liable  to  that 
flexibility  which  may  prove  j^rejudicial  to  the  state.  A 
good  acquaintance  with  mankind,  a  knowledge  of  the  lead- 
ing  passions  and  princij^les  of  the  human  mind,  is  of  high 
importance  in  the  character  before  us ;  for  common  and 
well-known  truths  and  real  facts  ought  to  determine  us  in 
human  matters.  We  should  take  mankind  as  they  are, 
and  not  as  they  ought  to  be  or  w^ould  be  if  they  were  per- 
fect in  wisdom  and  virtue.  So,  in  our  searches  for  truth 
and  knowledge,  and  in  our  labors  for  improvement,  we 
should  keep  within  the  ken  or  compass  of  the  human  mind. 
The  welfare  of  the  public  being  the  great  object  of  the 
ruler's  views,  they  ought,  of  consequence,  to  be  discerning 
in  the  times  —  always  awake  and  watchful  to  the  public 
danger  and  defence.  And  in  order  that  government  may 
support  a  proper  air  of  dignity,  and  command  respect,  the 
ruler  should  engage  in  public  matters,  and  perform  the 
duties  of  his  office,  with  gravity  and  solemnity  of  spirit. 
With  wdsdom  he  will  deliberate  upon  public  measures ; 
and,  tenacious  of  a  well-formed  purpose  and  design,  he  will 
pursue  it  with  an  inflexible  stability.  Political  knowledge, 
a  sense  of  honor,  an  open  and  generous  mind,  it  is  con- 
fessed, will  direct  and  urge  a  ruler  to  actions  and  exertions 
beneficial  to  the  state ;  and  if,  added  to  these,  he  has  a 
23rinciple  of  religion  and  the  fear  of  God,  it  will  in  the 
best  manner  fit  him  for  the  whole  course  of  allotted  duty. 
The  greatest  restraints,  the  noblest  motives,  and  the  best 
supports  arise  from  our  holy  religion.  The  pious  ruler  is 
by  far  the  most  likely  to  j^romote  the  public  good.  His 
example  will  have  the  most  happy  influence ;  his  public 
devotions  will  not  only  be  acts  of  worship  and  homage  to 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1778.  845 

God,  but  also  of  charity  to  men.  Superior  to  base  passions 
and  little  resentments,  undismayed  by  danger,  not  awed 
by  threatenings,  he  guides  the  helm  in  storm  and  tempest, 
and  is  ready,  if  called  in  providence,  to  sacrifice  his  life  for 
his  country's  good.  Most  of  all  concerned  to  approve 
himself  to  his  God,  he  avoids  the  subtle  arts  of  chicanery, 
which  are  productive  of  so  much  mischief  in  a  state  ;  ex- 
ercising a  conscience  void  of  ofience,  he  has  food  to  eat 
which  the  world  knows  not  of,  and  in  the  hour  of  his 
death  —  that  solemn  period  —  has  a  hope  and  confidence 
in  God,  which  is  better  than  a  thousand  worlds. 

A  state  and  its  inhabitants  thus  circumstanced  in  respect 
to  government,  principle,  morals,  capacity,  union,  and  rul- 
ers, make  up  the  most  striking  portrait,  the  liveliest  emblem 
of  the  Jerusalem  that  is  above,  that  this  world  can  afford. 
That  this  may  be  the  condition  of  these  free,  independent, 
and  sovereign  states  of  America,  we  have  the  wishes  and 
prayers  of  all  good  men.  Indulgent  Heaven  seems  to  in- 
vite and  urge  us  to  accept  the  blessing.  A  kind  and  won- 
derful Providence  has  conducted  us,  by  astonishing  steps, 
as  it  were,  within  sight  of  the  promised  land.  We  stand 
this  day  upon  Pisgah's  top,  the  children  of  the  free  woman, 
the  descendants  of  a  pious  race,  who,  from  the  love  of  lib- 
erty and  the  fear  of  God,  spent  their  treasure  and  spilt 
their  blood.  Animated  by  the  same  great  spirit  of  liberty, 
and  determined,  under  God,  to  be  free,  these  states  have 
made  one  of  the  noblest  stands  against  despotism  and 
tyranny  that  can  be  met  with  in  the  annals  of  history, 
either  ancient  or  modern.  One  common  cause,  one  com- 
mon danger,  and  one  common  interest,  has  united  and 
urged  us  to  the  most  vigorous  exertions.  From  small  be- 
ginnings, from  great  weakness,  —  impelled  from  necessity 
and  the  tyrant's  rod,  but  following  the  guidance  of  Heaven, 
—  we  have  gone  through  a  course  of  noble  and  heroic 


346 


actions,  with  minds  superior  to  the  most  virulent  menaces, 
and  to  all  the  horrors  of  war;  for  we  trusted  in  the  God 
of  our  forefathers.  We  have  been  all  along  the  scorn  and 
derision  of  our  enemies,  but  the  care  of  Heaven,  the  charge 
of  God ;  and  hence  our  cause  and  union,  like  the  rising 
sun,  have  shone  brighter  and  brighter.  Thanks  be  to 
God !  we  this  day  behold  in  the  fulness  of  our  spirit  the 
great  object  of  our  wishes,  of  our  toils  and  wars,  brighten- 
ing in  our  view.  The  battles  we  have  already  fought,  the 
victories  *  we  have  won,  the  pride  of  tyranny  that  must 
needs  have  been  humbled,  mark  the  characters  of  the  free- 
men of  America  with  distinguished  honor,  and  will  be  read 
with  astonishment  by  generations  yet  unborn. 

The  lust  of  dominion  is  a  base  and  detested  principle, 
the  desire  of  revenge  is  an  infernal  one  ;  and  the  former, 
if  opposed,  commonly  produces  the  latter.  From  these 
our  enemies  seem  to  have  taken  their  measures,  and  hence 
have  treated  us  with  the  greatest  indignities,  reproaches, 
insults,  and  cruelties  that  were  ever  heaped  upon  a  peo- 
ple when  struggling  for  their  all.  The  remembrance  of 
these  things  can  never  be  lost.  And  although,  under  God, 
American  wisdom  and  valor  have  hitherto  opposed  and 
baffled  both  their  force  and  fraud,  and  we  trust  ever  will, 
yet  justice  to  our  cause,  to  ourselves,  and  to  our  posterity, 
as  well  as  a  most  righteous  resentment,  absolutely  forbid 


a  The  memorable  and  complete  victory  obtained  over  General  Burgoyne  and 
his  whole  army  will  not  only  immortalize  the  character  of  the  brave  General 
Gates  and  the  ofiicers  and  troops  under  his  command,  but,  considering  the  im- 
mense expense  Britain  would  be  at  in  replacing  such  an  army  in  America,  to- 
gether with  other  reasons,  renders  it  highly  probable  it  may  prove  one  of  the 
capital  events  that  decides  the  war  and  establishes  the  independency  of  these 
states. 1 

1  See  the  Preftitory  Note.  A  very  full  and  complete  account  of  this 
event  in  every  view  is  presented  in  Lossinj^'s  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution, 
vol.  i.,  chaps,  ii.  iii.  Read,  also,  Dawson's  Battles  of  the  United  States, 
Book  1.,  ch.  XXV.  —  Ed. 


1778.  34T 

that  anything  should  pacify  our  minds  short  of  a  full  and 
pei-fect  independence.  This,  supported  by  the  wisdom, 
virtue,  and  strength  of  the  continent,  must  be  our  great 
charter  of  liberty.  Nature  has  given  us  the  claim,  and  the 
God  of  nature  appears  to  be  helping  us  to  assert  and  main- 
tain it.  I  am  led  to  speak  upon  this  point  with  the  great- 
est confidence,  from  the  late  measures  and  resolves  of  that 
august  assembly,  the  American  Congress,  which  were  so 
circumstanced  and  timed  as  must,  with  their  general  con- 
duct, raise  a  monument  to  their  fame  that  will  bid  defiance 
even  to  the  devouring  hand  of  time  itself.^ 

We  must  be  infidels,  the  worst  of  infidels,  to  disown  or 
disregard  the  hand  that  has  raised  us  up  such  benevolent 
and  powerful  assistants  in  times  of  great  distress.  How 
wonderful  that  God,  who  in  ancient  times  "  girded  Cyrus 
with  his  might,"  should  dispose  his  most  Christian  Majesty 
the  king  of  France  to  enter  into  the  most  open  and  gener- 
our  alliance  ^  with  these  independent  states  !  —  an  event  in 
providence  which,  like  the  beams  of  the  morning,  cheers 
and  enlivens  this  great  continent.  We  must  cherish  the 
feelings  of  gratitude  to  such  friends  in  our  distress ;  we 
must  hold  our  treaties  sacred  and  binding. 

Is  it  possible  for  us  to  behold  the  ashes,  the  ruins,  of 
large  and  opulent  towns  that  have  been  burnt  in  the  most 
wanton  manner,  to  view  the  graves  of  our  dear  country- 
men whose  blood  has  been  most  cruelly  spilt,  to  hear  the 
cries  and  screeches  of  our  ravished  matrons  and  virgins 
that  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  into  the  enemies'  hands, 
and  think  of  returning  to  that  cruel  and  bloody  power 
which  has  done  all  these  things  ?  Xo !  We  are  not  to  sup- 
pose such  a  thought  can  dwell  in  the  mind  of  a  free,  sensi- 

1  See  Prefatory  Note  —  "  Confederation."—  Ed. 

2  By  treaty  of  February  6,  1778.  War  between  England  and  France 
followed  close  after,  March  13th.  —  Ed. 


348  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

ble  American.  The  same  feelings  in  nature  that  led  a 
Peruvian  prince  to  choose  the  other  place^  must  also  teach 
us  to  prefer  connections  with  any  people  on  the  globe 
rather  than  with  those  fi*om  whom  we  have  experienced 
such  unrighteous  severities  and  unparalleled  cruelties. 

It  seems  as  if  a  little  more  labor  and  exertion  will  bring 
us  to  reaj)  the  harvest  of  all  our  toils ;  and  certainly  we 
must  esteem  the  freedom  and  independency  of  these  states 
a  most  ample  reward  for  all  our  sufferings.  In  preference 
to  all  human  affairs  our  cause  still  merits,  and  ever  has 
done,  the  most  firm  and  manly  support.  In  this,  the 
greatest  of  all  human  causes,  numbers  of  the  virtuous 
Americans  have  lost  their  all.  I  recall  my  words  —  they 
have  not  lost  it;  no,  but,  from  the  purest  principles,  have 
offered  it  up  in  sacrifice  upon  the  golden  altar  of  liberty. 
The  sweet  perfumes  have  ascended  to  heaven,  and  shall  be 
had  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

In  this  stage  of  our  struggle  we  are  by  no  means  to 
indulge  to  a  supine  and  dilatory  spirit,  which  might  yet  be 
fatal,  nor  have  we  to  take  our  resolutions  from  despair. 
Far  from  this,  we  have  the  noblest  motives,  the  highest 
encouragements.  I  know  the  ardor  of  the  human  mind  is 
apt  in  time  to  abate,  though  the  subject  be  ever  so  impor- 
tant ;  but  surely  the  blood  of  our  friends  and  countrymen, 
still  crying  in  our  ears,  like  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  under 
the  altar,  must  arouse  and  fire  every  nobler  passion  of  the 
mind.  Moreover,  to  anticipate  the  future  glory  of  Amer- 
ica from  our  present  hopes  and  prospects  is  ravishing  and 
transporting  to  the  mind.  In  this  light  we  behold  our 
country,  beyond  the  reach  of  all  oppressors,  under  the 
great  charter  of  independence,  enjoying  the  purest  lib- 
erty ;  beautiful  and  strong  in  its  union ;  the  envy  of 
tyrants  and  devils,  but  the  delight  of  God  and  all  good 
men;   a  refuge  to  the  oppressed;  the  joy  of  the  earth; 


849 

each  state  happy  in  a  wise  model  of  government,  and 
abounding  with  wise  men,  patriots,  and  heroes  ;  the 
strength  and  abilities  of  the  whole  continent,  collected 
in  a  grave  and  venerable  council,  at  the  head  of  all,  seek- 
ing and  promoting  the  good  of  the  jjresent  and  future 
generations.  Plail,  my  happy  country,  saved  of  the  Lord  ! 
Happy  land,  emerged  from  the  deluges  of  the  Old  World, 
drowned  in  luxury  and  lewd  excess !  Hail,  happy  pos- 
terity, that  shall  reap  the  peaceful  fruits  of  our  suffer- 
ings, fatigues,  and  wars !  AVith  such  prospects,  such  trans- 
porting views,  it  is  difficult  to  keep  the  passions  or  the 
tongue  within  the  bounds  of  Christian  moderation.  But 
far  be  it  from  us  to  indulge  vain-glory,  or  return  railing 
for  railing,  or  to  insult  our  foes ;  we  cultivate  better  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  and  bravery,  and  would  much  rather 
cherish  the  feelings  of  pity,  especially  to  those  of  our  ene- 
mies of  better  minds,  whose  names,  with  the  baser,  may 
appear  in  the  pages  of  impartial  history  with  indelible 
blemish.  We  wish,  from  the  infatuation,  and  wickedness, 
and  fate  of  our  enemies,  the  world  would  learn  lessons  in 
wisdom  and  virtue ;  that  princes  would  learn  never  to 
oppress  their  subjects  ;  that  the  vaunting  generals  of  Brit- 
ian  would  learn  never  more  to  despise  and  contemn  their 
enemy,  nor  prove  blasphemers  of  God  and  religion.  We 
wish  the  whole  world  may  learn  the  worth  of  liberty.  And 
may  the  inhabitants  of  these  states,  when  their  indepen- 
dence and  freedom  shall  be  completed,  bless  God  for  ever 
and  ever ;  for  thine,  O  Lord,  is  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
and  the  victory. 

But,  under  our  raised  expectations  of  seeing  the  good 
of  God's  chosen,  let  us  think  soberly,  let  us  act  wisely. 
The  public  still  calls  aloud  for  the  united  efforts  both  of 
rulers  and  people  ;  nor  have  we  as  yet  put  off  the  harness. 
We  have  many  things  amiss  among  ourselves  that  need  to 

30 


350 


be  reformed,  —  many  internal  diseases  to  cure,  and  secret 
internal  enemies  to  watch  against,  who  may  aim  a  fatal 
blow  while  making  the  highest  pretensions  to  our  cause ; 
for  plausible  pretences  are  common  covers  to  the  blackest 
designs.  We  wish  we  had  more  public  virtue,  and  that 
people  would  not  be  so  greedy  of  cheating  themselves  and 
their  neighbors.  We  wish  for  much  greater  exertions  to 
promote  education,  and  knowledge,  and  virtue,  and  piety. 
But  in  all  states  there  will  be  such  as  want  no  learning,  no 
government,  no  religion  at  all. 

For  the  cure  of  our  internal  political  diseases,  and  to 
promote  the  health  and  vigor,  the  defence  and  safety,  of 
the  state,  our  eyes,  under  God,  are  directed  to  our  rulers ; 
and,  from  that  wisdom  and  prudence  with  which  they 
have  conducted  our  i^ublic  affairs  in  the  most  trying  times, 
we  have  the  highest  encouragement  to  look  to  them. 

As  a  token  of  unfeigned  respect,  the  honorable  gentlemen 
of  both  Houses  of  Assembly  present  will  permit  me,  by  way 
of  address,  to  observe,  that  the  freemen  of  this  state,  by 
delegating  their  powers  to  you,  my  civil  fathers,  have  re- 
posed the  greatest  trust  and  confidence  in  you,  from  whence, 
we  doubt  not  but  you  are  sensible,  arises  the  most  sacred 
obligation  to  fidelity.  Preserving  a  constant  sense  of  this, 
and  keeping  the  public  welfare  as  your  great  object  in  view, 
we  trust  you  will  never  be  wanting  in  your  best  endeavors 
and  most  vigorous  exertions  to  defend  and  deliver  your 
country.  The  matters  of  the  war  will  undoubtedly,  at  pres- 
ent, claim  your  first  and  principal  attention,  —  always  es- 
teeming its  great  object,  the  liberty  of  your  country,  of  more 
inestimable  value  than  all  the  treasure  of  the  world ;  and 
therefore,  to  obtain  and  secure  it,  no  necessary  charges  or 
costs  are  to  be  spared.  The  internal  matters  of  the  state 
that  claim  your  attention,  though  they  may  pass  a  severe 
scrutiny,  will  be  noticed  with  all  justice  and  impartiality; 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1778.  351 

and  in  the  choice  of  a  Council,  —  that  important  branch 
of  our  Legishiture  from  which  we  have  experienced  such 
eminent  services  —  of  which  branch,  or  one  nearly  similar, 
we  hope  this  state  will  never  be  destitute, — in  this  choice, 
persons  of  known  ability,  of  public  virtue  and  religion,  and 
possessed  of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  will  have  the  preference.^ 
The  burdens  of  your  station  are  always  great,  and  in 
these  times  are  much  increased  ;  but  you  have  the  best 
of  motives  for  exertion,  —  you  have  the  consolation  which 
arises  from  the  fullest  assurance  of  the  justice  of  our  cause ; 
you  have  the  unceasing  prayers  of  good  men ;  more  than 
all  these,  you  have  the  countenance  and  smiles  of  Heaven : 
with  unceasing  ardor,  therefore,  you  will  strive  to  be 
laborers  tosrether  with  God. 

1  Councillors  for  1778. 
For  the  old  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bat: 
Hon.  Artemas  Ward,  Esq.;  Hon.  Timothy  Edwards,  Esq.; 

Bexj.  Green  leaf,  Esq.;  Oliver  Prescott,  Esq.; 

Caleb  Cushing,  Esq.;  Josiah  Stone,  Esq.; 

Thomas  Cushing,  Esq.;  Timothy  Danielson,  Esq.; 

Jabez  Fisher,  Esq.;  Oliver  Wendell,  Esq.; 

Benj.  White,  Esq. ;  Samuel  Niles,  Esq. ; 

Benj.  Austin,  Esq.;  John  Pitts,  Esq.; 

Daniel  Hopkins,  Esq.;  Eleazer  Brooks,  Esq.; 

Francis  Dana,  Esq. ;  Samuel  Baker,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Colony  of  New  Plymouth  : 
Hon.  Wai.  Sever,  Esq.;  Hon.  Dan,  Davis,  Esq.; 

Walter  Spooner,  Esq. ;  Nathan  Cushing,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Province  of  Maine  ; 
Hon.  Jere.  Powell,  Esq.;  Hon.  Jedediah  Prebble,  Esq.; 

Hon.  Joseph  Simpson,  Esq. 

For  Sagadahock: 

Hon.  Henry  Gardner,  Esq. 

At  Large: 
Hon.  MosES  Gill,  Esq.;  Hon.  Abraham  Fuller,  Esq. 

—  Ed. 


352 


As  nothing  will  be  omitted  tliat  the  good  of  the  state 
calls  for,  we  exjject  to  see  greater  exertions  in  promoting 
the  means  of  education  and  knowledge *"  than  ever  have 
yet  been  made  among  us.  You  will  especially  allow  me, 
my  fathers,  to  recommend  our  college,  so  much  the  glory 
of  our  land,  to  your  special  attention  and  most  generous 
encouragements ;  for  everything  that  is  excellent  and  good 
that  we  hope  and  wish  for  in  future,  in  a  most  important 
and  essential  sense,  is  connected  with  and  depends  upon 
exertions  and  endeavors  of  this  kind.  I  need  not  observe, 
the  leaders  and  rulers  in  our  glorious  cause  have  a  fair 
opportunity  of  transmitting  their  names  to  posterity  with 
characters  of  immortal  honor.  With  my  whole  soul,  I 
wish  you  the  blessing  of  God,  and  the  presence  and  guid- 
ance of  his  Holy  Spirit. 

My  hearers,  let  us  all  hearken  to  the  calls  of  our  country, 
to  the  calls  of  God,  and  learn  those  lessons  in  wisdom 
which  are  so  forcibly  inculcated  upon  us  in  these  times, 
and  by  such  wonderful  measures  in  Providence.  From  a 
sacred  regard  both  to  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God, 
let  us  follow  the  guidance  of  his  providence,  and  in  the 
way  of  duty  leave  ourselves  and  all  events  with  God. 
Remembering  that  Jerusalem  which  is  above  is  the  mother 
of  us  all,  that  we  are  children  "  not  of  the  bond  woman, 
but  of  the   free,"  let  us  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  where- 


n  In  matters  of  science  we  have  a  most  ample  field  open  for  improvement.  To 
complete  the  geography  of  our  country,  to  improve  in  the  arts  of  agriculture 
and  manufacture,  and  of  physic,  and  other  branches  of  science,  are  great  objects 
that  demand  our  special  attention,  and  to  obtain  which  an  uninterrupted  course 
of  observation  and  experiment  ought  to  be  kept  up.  And  if  our  General  As- 
sembly would  form,  and  establish  upon  generous  principles,  a  Society  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  i  in  this  state,  they  would  most  certainly  do  great  honor  to  them- 
selves, and  most  eminent  service  to  the  public. 

1  The  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  was  incorporated  in 
1780,  and  Mr.  Paysou  was  a  valued  contributor  to  its  "  Transactions."— 
Ed. 


353 

with  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and  be  not  entangled  again 
with  the  yoke  of  bondage.  Imitating  the  virtue,  the  piety 
the  love  of  liberty,  so  conspicuous  in  our  pious  ances- 
tors, like  them  let  us  exert  ourselves  for  the  good  of  poster- 
ity. With  diligence  let  us  cultivate  the  spirit  of  liberty, 
of  public  virtue,  of  union  and  religion,  and  thus  strengthen 
the  hands  of  government  and  the  great  pillars  of  the  state. 
Our  own  consciences  will  reproach  us,  and  the  world  con- 
demn us,  if  we  do  not  properly  respect,  and  obey,  and 
reverence  the  government  of  our  own  choosing.  The 
eyes  of  the  whole  world  are  upon  us  in  these  critical 
times,  and,  what  is  yet  more,  the  eyes  of  Almighty  God. 
Let  us  act  worthy  of  our  professed  principles,  of  our  glori- 
ous cause,  that  in  some  good  measure  we  may  answer  the 
expectations  of  God  and  of  men.  Let  us  cultivate  the 
heavenly  temper,  and  sacredly  regard  the  great  motive  of 
the  world  to  come.  And  God  of  his  mercy  grant  the  bless- 
ings of  peace  may  soon  succeed  to  the  horrors  of  war,  and 
that  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  sweets  of  liberty  here  we 
may  in  our  turn  and  order  go  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
nobler  liberties  above,  in  that  New  Jerusalem,  that  city 
of  the  living  God,  that  is  enlightened  by  the  glory  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb.    Amen. 

30* 


SERMON 

PREACHED    BEFORE    THE 

HONORABLE     COUNCIL, 

AND    THE    HONORABLE 

HOUSE      OF      REPRESENTATIVES 

OF     THE 

STATE   OF   MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, 

IN 

NE  W-EN  GLAND, 

May    31,   1780. 

being  the  anniversary  for  the  election 
of  the  honorable  council. 

By  SIMEON  HOWARD,  A.  M. 

Paftor  of  the  Weft  Church  in  Boston. 

N.   B.      Several  pafTages  omitted  in  preaching  are  now 
inferted  in  the  pubHcation  of  this  difcourfe. 

BOSTON,     NEW-ENGLAND: 
Printed   by   JOHN   GILL,   In    Court-Street. 

MDCCLXXX. 


State  of  Massachusetts-Bat,  In  Council,  June  1, 1780. 

Ordered,  That  Moses  Gill,  Henry  Gardner,  and  Timothy  Danielson,  Esquires, 
be  and  hereby  are  appointed  a  Committee  to  wait  upon  the  Rev.  Mr.  Simeon 
Howard,  and  return  him  the  thanks  of  this  Board  for  his  Sermon  delivered 
yesterday  before  both  Houses  of  the  General  Assembly;  and  to  request  a  copy 
thereof  for  the  press. 

True  Copy. 

Attest,  SAMUEL  ADAMS,  Secretary. 


I 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


"  At  the  commencement  of  the  dispute,  in  the  first  effusions  of  their  zeal, 
and  looking  upon  the  service  to  he  only  temporary,  the  American  officers 
entered  into  it  without  paying  any  regard  to  pecuniary  or  selfish  con- 
siderations  It  is  not,  indeed,  consistent  with  reason  or  justice  to 

expect  that  one  set  of  men  should  make  a  sacrifice  of  property,  domestic 
ease,  and  happiness,  encounter  the  rigors  of  the  field,  the  perils  and  vicis- 
situdes of  war,  to  obtain  those  blessings  which  every  citizen  will  enjoy  in 
common  with  them,  without  some  adequate  compensation.  It  must  also 
be  a  comfortless  reflection  to  any  man,  that,  after  he  may  have  contributed 
to  securing  the  rights  of  his  country  at  the  risk  of  his  life  and  the  ruin 
of  his  fortune,  there  would  be  no  provision  made  to  prevent  himself 
and  family  from  sinking  into  indigence  and  wretchedness."  These  were 
among  the  reflections  presented  by  "Washington,  in  January,  1778,  to  a 
committee  of  Congress  on  the  causes  of  the  numerous  defects  in  the  mili- 
tary' establishment.  He  recommended  a  "  half-pay  establishment,"  or 
life  pension  to  the  officers  after  the  close  of  the  war.  "  Besides,"  he 
added,  "  adopting  some  methods  to  make  the  provision  for  officers  equal 
to  their  present  emergencies,  a  due  regard  should  be  paid  to  futurity. 
Nothing,  in  my  opinion,  would  serve  more  powerfully  to  reanimate  their 
languishing  zeal,  and  interest  them  thoroughly  in  the  service,  than  a  half- 
pay  establishment.  This  would  not  only  dispel  the  apprehension  of  per- 
sonal distress,  at  the  termination  of  the  war,  from  having  thrown  them- 
selves out  of  professions  and  employments  they  might  not  have  it  in  their 
power  to  resume,  but  would,  in  a  great  degree,  relieve  the  painful  antici- 
pation of  leaving  their  widows  and  orphans  a  burden  on  the  charity  of 
their  country,  should  it  be  their  lot  to  fall  in  its  defence."  May  15th,  1778, 
Congress  passed  resolves  which  for  a  time  relieved  the  distresses  of  the 
army ;  but  the  inability  of  the  public  to  perform  their  engagements,  and 
the  depression  of  public  credit  in  subsequent  years,  "  caused  such  dis- 


358  editor's  prefatory  note. 

contents  and  uneasiness,  that  alarming  consequences  were  feared."  If 
the  national  and  state  credit  should  now  be  depreciated  "  sixt}^  for  one 
of  specie,  and  even  government  take  it  at  forty  for  one,"—  its  condition  in 
1780,  —  or  seventy-five  for  one  of  specie,  or  even  one  hundred  and  twenty 
for  one,  as  was  the  case  in  1781,  and  this  distress  be  in  the  midst  of  war 
against  the  greatest  power  in  Christendom,  and  the  evil  be  aggravated  by 
the  timid,  sordid,  and  unscrupulous  who  infest  every  community,  and  the 
future  be  darkened  by  an  uncertainty  discouraging  to  even  the  most  hope- 
ful and  patriotic,  even  in  success,i  —  all  this  would  fail  to  impress  us  with 
the  actual  distress  of  that  period.  The  terrible  experience  of  the  inefficiency 
of  the  "confederacy,"  having  authority  over  states  only,  and  not  over  the 
people,  —  the  individuals  of  the  nation,  —  was  the  cause  of  its  abandon- 
ment, and  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  beginning,  —  "  We, 
the  people  of  the  United  States." 

The  author  of  the  following  discourse  needs  no  other  memorial  of  his 
generous  mind,  sound  judgment,  and  enlightened  principles,  than  maybe 
found  in  his  own  pages.  He  fitly  succeeded  the  gospel  minister  and 
patriot,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew,  in  his  pastorate  of  the  West  Church  of 
Boston,  May  6,  1767,  and  was  distinguished  for  the  gentle  virtues,  mild- 
ness, benevolence,  charity;  yet,  says  Dr.  Allen,  "he  heartily  engaged  in 
promoting  the  American  Revolution,  and  participated  in  the  joy  experi- 
enced on  the  acknowledgment  of  our  Independence."  He  was  a  native 
of  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  born  May  10,  1733,  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1758,  and,  after  a  prosperous  ministry  of  thirty-seven  years, 
died  August  13,  1804,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lowell.  The 
present  constitution  of  Massachusetts  was  now  before  the  people,  wait- 
ing for  their  adoption,  and  Mr.  Howard's  sermon  was  a  consideration 
of  the  principles  of  free  civil  government,  and  of  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  civil  rulers  essential  to  its  administration.  The  constitution  was 
adopted  by  the  popular  vote,  but  not  with  unanimity.  The  government 
was  organized  October  25,  1780,  and  John  Hancock  was  chosen  the  first 
governor.  2 

1  Congress,  in  its  appeal  to  the  states,  September  13th,  1779,  declared  that  "  that 
period  had  past"  when  honest  men  could  doubt  of  the  success  of  the  Revolution. 
The  greatness  of  Washington,  the  immense  cost  of  our  liberty,  the  intolerable 
wrongs  and  cruelties  of  the  war,  cannot  be  appreciated  without  a  study  of  the 
financial  history  of  the  Revolution  — the  most  painful  and  gloomy,  yet  one  of 
the  most  instructive  chapters  in  our  history.  —  See  Ramsay,  Marshall,  Wash- 
ington's Letters,  and  Felt's  Massachusetts  Currency. 

2  Barry's  ilistory  of  Massachusetts,  iii.  177-182. 


DISCOURSE  VIII 


ELECTION  SERMON. 


THOtT    SHALT    PROVIDE  OUT  OP  ALt,  THE    PEOPLE  ABLE    ME:X,   SUCH  AS  FEAR 
GOD,  MEN  OF  TRUTH,  HATING  CO VETOUSNE88 ;   AND   PLACE  SUCH  OVER  THEM 

TO  BE  RULERS.  —  Exodus  xviii.  21. 


Almighty  God,  who  governs  the  world,  generally  carries 
on  the  designs  of  his  government  by  the  instrumentality 
of  subordinate  agents,  hereby  giving  scope  and  opportu- 
nity to  his  creatures  to  become  the  ministers  for  good  to 
one  another,  in  the  exercise  of  the  various  powers  and 
capacities  with  which  he  has  endowed  them.  Though,  for 
the  vindication  of  his  honor,  to  dispel  the  darkness  and 
give  a  check  to  the  idolatry  and  vice  w^hich  overspread  the 
world,  and  in  order  to  prepare  mankind  for  the  reception 
of  a  Saviour,  to  be  manifested  in  due  time,  God  was 
pleased  to  take  the  Jewish  nation  under  his  particular  care 
and  protection,  and  to  become  their  political  law-giver  and 
head  ;  yet  he  made  use  of  the  agency  of  some  of  that  peo- 
ple in  the  administration  of  his  government.  The  legis- 
lative power  he  seems  to  have  reserved  wholly  to  himself, 
there  being  no  evidence  that  any  of  the  rulers  or  assem- 
blies of  the  people  had  authority  to  make  laws ;  but  the 
judicial  and  executive  powers  were  intrusted  with  men. 
At  the  first  institution  of  the  government,  Moses  seems  to 
have  exercised  the  judicial  authority  wholly  by  himself 
In  this  business  he  was  employed  from  morning  till  even- 


860 


ing,  when  Jethro,  his  flither-in-law,  the  priest  and  prince 
of  Midian,  came  to  visit  him.  This  wise  man  —  for  such 
he  surely  was  —  observed  to  Moses  that  this  business  was 
too  heavy  for  him,  and  what  he  was  not  able  to  perform 
alone ;  and  therefore  advised  him  to  appoint  proper  per- 
sons to  bear  the  burden  with  him,  provided  it  was  agree- 
able to  the  divine  will.  Moses,  it  is  said  in  the  context, 
hearkened  to  the  voice  of  his  filth er-in-1  aw,  and  did  all 
that  he  had  said.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  God 
approved  this  measure,  —  though  it  was  first  suggested  by 
a  pagan,  —  otherwise  it  would  not  have  been  adopted.  It 
seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  highly  expedient,  and  even 
necessary.  From  whence  it  appears  that  even  in  this 
government,  which  was  so  immediately  the  work  of  God, 
room  was  left  for  men  to  make  such  appointments  as  by 
experience  should  be  found  necessary  for  the  due  adminis- 
tration of  it.  The  general  plan  was  laid  by  God,  and  he 
was  the  sole  legislator.  This  was  necessary  in  that  age  of 
darkness,  idolatry,  and  vice.  Mankind  seem  to  have  been 
too  ignorant  and  corrupt  to  form  a  constitution  and  a  code 
of  laws  in  any  good  measure  adapted  to  promote  their 
piety,  virtue,  and  happiness ;  but  God  left  many  smaller 
matters  to  be  regulated  by  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of 
the  people.  This  is  agreeable  to  a  general  rule  of  the 
divine  conduct,  which  is,  not  to  accomplish  that  in  a  super- 
natural or  miraculous  way  which  may  be  done  by  the  exer- 
tion of  human  powers. 

It  is  said  in  the  context  that,  in  compliance  with  the 
advice  of  Jethro,  Moses  chose  able  men,  and  made  them 
rulers ;  but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  they  were  chosen 
by  the  people.  This  is  asserted  by  Josephus,  and  plainly  in- 
timated by  Moses  in  his  recapitulatory  discourse,  recorded 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  where  he  says  to  the 
peo2:)le,  "I  spake  unto  you,  saying,  I  am  not  able  to  bear 


361 

you  myself  alone :  take  ye  wise  men,  and  undei-standing, 
and  known  among  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them  rulers 
over  you."  So  that  these  officers  were  without  doubt 
elected  by  the  people,  though  introduced  by  Moses  into 
their  office.  And,  indeed,  the  Jews  always  exercised  this 
right  of  choosing  their  own  rulers  ;  even  Saul  and  David, 
and  all  their  successors  in  the  throne,  were  made  kings  by 
the  voice  of  the  people.*  This  natural  and  important  right 
God  never  deprived  them  of,  though  they  had  shown  so 
much  folly  and  perverseness  in  rejecting  him  and  desiring 
to  have  a  king  like  the  nations  around  them. 

The  business  for  which  Jethro  advised  that  these  rulers 
should  be  chosen  was,  to  decide  the  smaller  and  less  diffi- 
cult matters  of  controversy  that  arose  among  the  people, 
while  causes  of  greater  consequence  were  to  be  brought 
before  Moses ;  so  that  they  were  a  sort  of  inferior  judicial 
officers  or  judges  of  inferior  courts.  Though  they  were 
not  officers  of  the  highest  dignity  and  authority  in  the 
state,  yet  the  Midiauitish  sage  advised  that  they  should  be 
"  able  men,  such  as  fear  God ;  men  of  truth,  hating  covet- 
ousness;"  judging  that  such  men  only  were  fit  for  office. 
He  has  here  in  a  few  words  pointed  out  to  us  what  sort  of 
men  are  proper  to  be  put  in  authority,  whether  in  a  higher 
or  lower  station  ;  for  if  such  qualifications  are  necessary 
for  this  inferior  office,  they  must  surely  be  more  so  for  the 
higher  and  supreme  offices  in  government.  And  the  con- 
sideration of  these  qualifications  is  what  I  principally  in- 
tend in  the  following  discourse.  But,  before  I  enter  upon 
this,  I  would  give  a  little  attention  to  two  or  three  other 
points.     Accordingly,  I  shall  consider, 

I.  The  necessity  of  civil  government  to  the  happiness 
of  mankind. 


a  See  1  Sam.  xi.,  xr. ;  2  Sam.  ii.,  iv.,  t.,  viii. 
31 


362 

II.  The  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own  rulers. 

III.  The  business  of  rulers  in  general. 

These  particulars  being  finished  in  a  few  words,  I  shall 
then, 

lY.  Particularly  consider  the  qualifications  pointed  out 
in  the  text  as  necessary  for  civil  rulers. 

After  which,  the  subject  will  be  applied  to  the  present 
occasion. 

I.  Let  us  consider  the  necessity  of  civil  government  for 
the  happiness  of  mankind.  Men  have,  in  all  ages  and 
nations,  been  induced,  by  a  sense  of  their  wants  and  weak- 
nesses, as  well  as  by  their  love  of  society,  to  keep  up  some 
intercourse  with  one  another.  A  man  totally  separated 
from  his  species  would  be  less  able  to  provide  for  himself 
than  almost  any  other  creature.  Some  sort  of  society, 
some  intercourse  with  other  men,  is  necessary  to  his  hap- 
piness, if  not  to  his  very  existence. 

Suppose,  then,  a  number  of  men  living  near  together, 
and  maintaining  that  intercourse  which  is  necessary  for 
the  supply  of  their  wants,  but  without  any  laws  or  govern- 
ment established  among  them  by  mutual  consent,  or  in 
what  is  called  a  state  of  nature;  —  in  this  state  every  one 
has  an  equal  right  to  liberty,  and  to  do  what  he  thinks 
proper.  The  love  of  liberty  is  natural  to  all.  It  appears 
the  first,  operates  the  most  forcibh^,  and  is  extinguished 
the  last  of  any  of  our  passions.  And  this  principle  would 
lead  every  man  to  pursue  and  enjoy  everything  to  which 
he  had  an  inclination.  Several  persons  would  no  doubt 
desire  and  pursue  the  same  thing,  which  only  one  could 
enjoy;  hence  contests  would  arise,  and,  no  one  else  having 
a  right  to  interfere,  they  must  be  settled  by  the  parties ; 
but  prejudice  and  self-love  would  render  them  partial 
judges,  and  probably  prevent  an  amicable  settlement,  so 
that  the  dispute  must  at  last  be  ended  by  the  strongest 


1780.  .       363 

arm,  and  thus  the  liberty  of  the  weak  would  be  destroyed 
by  the  power  of  the  strong.  Every  unsuccessful  com- 
petitor would  think  himself  injured  by  another's  seizinor 
that  to  which,  in  his  own  opinion,  he  had  an  equal  right, 
and  would  endeavor  to  obtain  compensation.  This  would 
provoke  retaliation,  and  naturally  lead  on  to  an  endless 
reciprocation  of  injuries.  The  injured,  who  found  himself 
unable  to  contend  with  his  adversary,  would  call  in  the 
assistance  of  some  more  powerful  combatant  to  avenge  his 
cause.  The  aggressor,  too,  would  endeavor  to  strengthen 
himself  for  defence,  by  associates ;  and  thus  parties  would 
be  formed  for  rapine,  devastation,  and  murder,  and  the 
peaceful  state  of  nature  soon  be  exchanged  for  a  number 
of  little,  contending  tyrannies,  or  for  one  successful  one 
that  should  swallow  up  all  the  rest.  This  would  generally 
be  the  case  where  men  should  attempt  to  live  without  laws 
or  government ;  nor  can  they  any  way  secure  themselves 
against  all  manner  of  violence  and  injuries  from  bad  men 
but  by  uniting  together  in  society,  agreeing  upon  some 
universal  rules  to  be  observed  by  all ;  —  that  controversies 
shall  be  determined,  not  by  the  parties  concerned,  but  by 
disinterested  judges,  and  according  to  established  rules; 
that  their  determinations  shall  be  enforced  by  the  joint 
power  of  the  whole  community,  either  in  punishing  the 
injurious  or  protecting  the  innocent.^  Man  is  not  to  be 
trusted  with  his  unbounded  love  of  liberty,  unless  it  is 
under  some  other  restraint  than  what  arises  from  his  own 
reason  or  the  law  of  God,  —  these,  in  many  instances, 
would  make  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  his  lust  or  avarice  ; 
and  he  would  pursue  his  liberty  to  the  destruction  of  his 
fellow-creatures,  if  he  was  not  restrained  by  human  laws 
and  punishment. 

Let  us  next  consider,  — 

1  See  pp.  86,  note  a;  280,  285.  —  Ed. 


364 


II.  The  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own  rulers. 

No  man  is  bom  a  magistrate,  or  with  a  right  to  rule  over 
his  brethren.  If  this  were  the  case,  there  must  be  some 
natural  mark  by  which  it  might  be  known  to  whom  this 
right  belongs,  or  it  could  answer  no  end ;  but  no  man  was 
ever  known  to  come  into  the  world  with  any  such  mark 
of  superiority  and  dominion.*  If  a  man,  by  the  improve- 
ment of  his  reason  and  moral  powers,  becomes  more  wise 
and  virtuous  than  his  brethren,  this  renders  him  better 
qualified  for  authority  than  others;  but  still  he  is  no  magis- 
trate or  lawgiver  till  he  is  appointed  such  by  the  people. 

Nor  has  one  state  or  kingdom  a  right  to  appoint  rulers 
for  another.  This  would  infer  such  a  natural  inequality 
in  mankind  as  is  inconsistent  with  the  equal  freedom  of 
all.  One  state  may,  indeed,  by  virtue  of  its  superior  power, 
assume  this  right,  and  the  weaker  state  may  be  obliged  to 
submit  to  it  for  want  of  power  to  resist.  But  it  is  an  un- 
just encroachment  upon  their  liberty,  which  they  ought  to 
get  rid  of  as  soon  as  they  can.  It  is  a  mark  of  tyranny  on 
one  side,  and  of  inglorious  slavery  on  the  other. 

The  magistrate  is  properly  the  trustee  of  the  people. 
He  can  have  no  just  power  but  what  he  receives  from 
them.  To  them  he  ought  to  be  accountable  for  the  use  he 
makes  of  this  j^ower.  But  if  a  man  may  be  invested  with 
the  power  of  government,  which  is  the  united  power  of 
the  community,  without  their  consent,  how  can  they  call 


1  "  Nature  knew  no  right  divine  in  man, 
No  ill  could  fear  in  God;  and  understood 

A  Sovereign  Being  but  a  sovereign  good 

Who  first  taught  souls  enslaved,  and  realms  undone, 

The  enormous  faith  of  many  made  for  one?  .... 

Force  first  made  conquest,  and  that  conquest,  law; 

Till  Superstition  taught  the  tyrant  awe, 

Then  shared  the  tyranny,  then  lent  it  aid. 

And  gods  of  conquerors,  slaves  of  subjects,  made."    Pope.  —  Ed. 


1780.  365 

him  to  account  ?  What  check  can  they  have  upon  him, 
or  what  security  for  the  enjoyment  of  anything  which 
he  may  see  fit  to  deiDrive  them  of?  They  must  in  this 
case  be  slaves.  But  as  every  people  have  a  right  to  be 
free,  they  must  have  a  right  of  choosing  their  own  rulers, 
and  appointing  such  as  they  think  most  proper ;  because 
this  right  is  so  essential  to  liberty,  that  the  moment  a  peo- 
lAe  are  deprived  of  it  they  cease  to  be  free.  This,  as  has 
been  already  observed,  is  a  right  which  the  Jews  always 
enjoyed.  They  elected  their  kings,  generals,  judges,  and 
other  officers ;  though  in  some  few  instances  God  did  ex- 
pressly point  out  to  them  the  person  whom  they  ought  to 
choose,  which,  however,  he  has  never  done  with  any  other 
people.  ^ 

Let  us  now  consider, — 

III.  The  business  of  rulers  in  general. 

And  this  is,  to  promote  and  secure  the  happiness  of  the 
whole  community. .._,  For  this  end  only  they  are  invested 
with  power,  and  only  for  this  end  it  ought  to  be  employed. 
The  apostle  tells  us  that  the  magistrate  is  God's  minister 
for  good  to  the  people.^  This  is  the  sole  end  for  which 
God  has  ordained  that  magistrates  should  be  appointed  — 
that  th^^  may  carry  on  his  benevolent  purposes  in  pro- 
moting the  good  and  happiness  of  human  society;  and 
hence  their  power  is  said  to  be  from  God ;  that  is,  it  is  so 
while  they  employ  it  according  to  his  will.  But  when 
they  act  against  the  good  of  society,  they  cannot  be  said 
to  act  by  authority  from  God,  any  more  than  a  servant 
can  be  said  to  act  by  his  master's  authority  while  he  acts 
directly  contrary  to  his  will.  And  no  people,  we  may  pre- 
sume, ever  elected  a  magistrate  for  any  other  end  than 
their  own  good ;    consequently,  when  a  magistrate  acts 

1  See  p.  274.  — Ed.  2  gee  pp.  75-77,  275.  — Ed. 

31* 


866  THE  ELECTION   SERMON, 

against  this  end,  he  cannot  act  by  authority  from  the  peo- 
ple ;  so  that  he  acts,  in  this  case,  without  any  authority 
either  from  God  or  man.  He  cannot,  by  any  lawful  au- 
thority, act  against,  but  only  for  the  good  of  society. 
This,  in  general,  is  the  business  of  civil  rulers.  But  there 
are  a  variety  of  ways  and  means  by  which  they  are  to 
carry  on  this  business,  and  accomplish  the  important  end 
of  their  institution,  which  it  is  quite  beyond  my  present 
design  particularly  to  point  out,  though  there  may  be 
occasion  to  suggest  some  of  them  in  the  progress  of  my 
discourse.     Let  us  now  consider,  — 

IV.  The  qualifications  pointed  out  in  the  text  as  neces- 
sary for  rulers. 

1.  They  must  be  able  men.  God  has  made  a  great 
difference  in  men  in  resi:)ect  of  their  natural  powers,  both 
of  body  and  mind  ;  to  some  he  has  given  more,  to  others 
fewer  talents.  Nor  is  there  perhaps  a  less  difference  in 
this  respect  arising  from  education.  And  though  there 
are  none  but  what  may  be  good  members  of  civil  society, 
as  well  as  faithful  servants  of  God,  yet  every  one  has  not 
abilities  sufficient  to  make  him  a  good  civil  ruler.  "  Woe 
unto  thee,  O  land,  when  thy  king  is  a  child,"  says  Solomon, 
hereby  intimating  that  the  happiness  of  a  peoplq^  depends 
greatly  upon  the  character  of  its  rulers,  and  that  if  they 
resemble  children  in  weakness,  ignorance,  credulity,  fickle- 
ness, etc.,  the  people  will  of  course  be  very  miserable.  By 
able  men  may  be  intended  men  of  good  understanding 
and  knowledge,  —  men  of  clear  heads,  who  have  improved 
their  minds  by  exercise,  acquired  a  habit  of  reasoning, 
and  furnished  themselves  with  a  good  degree  of  knowl- 
edge,—  men  who  have  a  just  conception  of  the  nature  and 
end  of  government  in  general,  of  the  natural  rights  of 
mankind,  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty,  —  a   knowledge   of  human   nature,   of  the 


1780.  367 

springs  of  action,  and  the  readiest  way  to  engage  and 
influence  the  heart,  —  an  acquaintance  with  the  people  to 
be  governed,  their  genius,  their  prejudices,  their  interest 
with  respect  to  other  states,  what  difficulties  they  are 
under,  what  dangers  they  are  liable  to,  and  what  they 
are  able  to  bear  and  do.  These  things  are  ever  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  by  legislators  when  they  make 
laws  for  the  internal  police  of  a  people,  and  in  their  trans- 
actions with  or  respecting  other  states.  It  would  be  going 
too  far  to  say  that  an  honest  man  cannot  be  a  good  ruler 
unless  he  be  of  the  first  character  for  good  sense,  learning, 
and  knowledge ;  but  it  will  not  be  denied  that  the  more 
he  excels  in  these  things,  the  more  likely  he  will  be  to  rule 
well.  He  will  be  better  able  to  see  what  measures  are 
suited  to  the  temper  and  genius  of  the  people,  and  most 
conducive  to  the  end  of  his  institution ;  how  to  raise 
necessary  supplies  for  the  expenses  of  government  in 
ways  most  easy  and  agreeable  to  the  people ;  how  to 
extricate  them  out  of  difficulties  in  which  they  may  be 
involved;  how  to  negotiate  with  foreign  powers;  how 
to  prevent  or  mitigate  the  calamities  of  war  by  compro- 
mising differences,  or  putting  the  people  into  a  condition 
to  defend  themselves  and  repel  injuries;  in  a  word,  how 
to  render  them  happy  and  respectable  in  peace,  or  formi- 
dable in  war.  These  things  require  a  very  considerable 
degree  of  penetration  and  knowledge. 

As  it  is  of  great  importance  to  the  community  that 
learning  and  knowledge  be  diffused  among  the  people  in 
general,  it  is  proper  that  the  government  should  take  all 
proper  measures  for  this  purpose  —  making  provision  for 
the  establishment  and  support  of  literary  schools  and  col- 
leges. But  ignorant  and  illiterate  men  will  not  be  likely 
to  be  the  patrons  of  learning;  unacquainted  with  its  ex- 
cellency   and    importance,    and    seeing   no    comeliness    or 


368  THE  ELECTION   SERMON 


beauty  in  it,  they  will  reject  and  despise  it,  as  the  Jews 
did  the  great  Teacher  of  wisdom  who  came  from  God. 
It  would  not  be  strange  if  such  men,  entrusted  with  the 
government  of  a  people,  should  wholly  neglect  to  make 
any  provision  for  the  encouragement  of  literature.  It  is 
therefore  proper  that  rulers  should  be  men  of  understand- 
ing and  learning,  in  order  to  their  being  disposed  to  give 
due  encouragement  and  support  to  the  teachers  and  pro- 
fessors of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences.^ 

It  may  be  further  observed,  that  weak  and  illiterate 
men  at  the  head  of  a  government  will  be  likely  to  place 
in  inferior  and  subordinate  offices  men  of  their  own  char- 
acter, merely  because  they  know  no  better. 

But  by  "  able  men  "  may  be  intended  men  of  courage, 
of  firmness  and  resolution  of  mind,  —  men  that  will  not 
sink  into  despondency  at  the  sight  of  difficulties,  or  desert 
their  duty  at  the  approach  of  danger,  —  men  that  will  haz- 
ard their  lives  in  defence  of  the  public,  either  against  in- 
ternal sedition  or  external  enemies ;  that  will  not  fear  the 
resentment  of  turbulent,  factious  men  ;  that  will  be  a  ter- 
ror to  evil-doers,  however  powerful,  and  a  protection  to 
the  innocent,  however  weak;  men  that  will  decide  sea- 
sonably upon  matters  of  importance,  and  firmly  abide  by 
their  decision,  not  wavering  with  every  wind  that  blows. 
There  are  some  men  that  will  halt  between  two  opinions, 
and  hesitate  so  long  when  any  question  of  consequence  is 

1  Mr.  Hildrctli  says  that  only  the  constitutions  of  Pennsylvania,  North 
Carolina,  Massachusetts,  and  the  second  constitution  of  New  Hampshire, 
made  any  mention  of  the  all-important  subject  of  education;  and  in  the 
two  former  states  the  clauses  which  required  the  Legislature  to  establish 
schools  remained  a  dead  letter.  Jefferson  attempted  to  introduce  a  system 
of  common  schools  in  Virginia,  but  did  not  succeed.  Only  New  Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Maryland,  could  boast  anything 
like  a  system  of  public  education,  and  many  years  elapsed  before  their 
example  was  imitated.  —  History  of  the  United  States,  iii.  38o-3U5.  —  Ed. 


1780.  869 

before  them,  and  are  so  easily  shaken  from  their  purpose 
when  they  have  formed  one,  that  they  are  on  this  account 
very  unfit  to  be  intrusted  with  public  authority.^  Such 
double-minded  men  will  be  unstable  in  all  their  ways  ; 
their  indecision  in  council  will  produce  none  but  feeble  and 
ineffectual  exertions ;  and  this  doubting  and  wavering  in 
the  supreme  authority  must  be  prejudicial  to  the  state, 
and  at  some  critical  times  may  be  attended  with  flital  con- 
sequences. Wise  men  will  not  indeed  determine  rashly, 
but  when  the  case  requires  it  they  will  resolve  speedily, 
and  act  with  vigor  and  steadiness.^ 

By  "  able  men "  may  be  further  intended  men  capable 
of  enduring  the  burden  and  fatigue  of  government,  —  men 
that  have  not  broken  or  debilitated  their  bodies  or  minds 
by  the  effeminating  pleasures  of  luxury,  intemperance,  or 
dissipation.  The  supreme  government  of  a  people  is 
always  a  burden  of  great  weight,  though  more  difficult  at 
some  times  than  others.  It  cannot  be  managed  well  with- 
out great  diligence  and  application.  Weak  and  effeminate 
persons  are  therefore  by  no  means  fit  to  manage  it.  But 
rulers  should  not  only  be  able  men,  but, 

2.  "  Such  as  fear  God."  The  fear  of  God,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  does  not  intend  a  slavish,  superstitious 
di-ead,  as  of  an  almighty,  arbitrary,  and  cruel  Being,  but 
that  just  reverence  and  awe  of  him  which  naturally  arises 
from  a  belief  and  habitual  consideration  of  his  glorious 
perfections  and  providence,  —  of  his  being  the  moral  gov- 
ernor of  the  world,  a  lover  of  holiness  and  a  hater  of  vice, 
who  sees  every  thought  and  design  as  well  as  every  action 
of  all  his  creatures,  and  will  punish  the  impenitently  vicious 
and  reward  the  virtuous.     It  is  therefore  a  fear  of  offend- 


1  Promptness  and  decision  were  peculiarly  necessary  at  that  time  in  the 
emergencies  of  the  war.  —  Ed. 


370  THE    ELECTION    SERMON, 

ing  him  productive  of  obedience  to  his  laws,  and  ever 
accompanied  with  hope  in  his  mercy,  and  that  filial  love 
which  is  due  to  so  amiable  a  character. 

It  is  of  great  importance  that  civil  rulers  be  possessed 
of  this  principle.  It  must  be  obvious  to  all  that  a  practi- 
cal regard  to  tlie  rules  of  social  virtue  is  necessary  to  the 
character  of  a  good  magistrate.  Without  this  a  man  is 
unworthy  of  any  trust  or  confidence.  But  no  principle  so 
effectually  promotes  and  establishes  this  regard  to  virtue 
as  the  fear  of  God.  A  man  may,  indeed,  from  a  regard  to 
the  intrinsic  amiableness  and  excellency  of  virtue,  from  a 
mere  sense  of  honor,  from  a  love  of  fame,  from  a  natural 
benevolence  of  temper,  or  from  a  prudent  regard  to  his 
own  temporal  happiness,  follow  virtue  when  he  is  under 
no  strong  temptation  to  the  contrary.  But  suppose  him 
in  a  situation  where  he  apprehends  that  temporal  infamy 
and  misery  will  be  the  certain  consequence  of  his  practis- 
ing virtue,  and  temporal  honor  and  happiness  the  conse- 
quence of  his  forsaking  it,  without  any  regard  to  God,  as  his 
ruler  and  judge,  and  can  we  expect  that  he  will  adhere  to 
his  duty  ?  Will  he  sacrifice  everything  dear  in  this  life  in 
the  cause  of  virtue,  when  he  has  no  expectation  of  any 
reward  for  it  beyond  the  grave  ?  Will  he  deny  himself  a 
present  gratification,  without  any  prospect  of  being  repaid 
either  here  or  hereafter  ?  Will  he  expose  himself  to  re- 
proach, poverty,  and  death,  for  the  sake  of  doing  good  to 
mankind,  without  any  regard  to  God  as  the  rewarder  of 
virtue  or  punisher  of  vice  ?  This  is  not  to  be  expected. 
We  all  love,  and  we  ought  to  love,  ourselves ;  and  all 
wish  to  be  happy.  Why,  then,  should  a  man  give  up  pres- 
ent ease  and  happiness  for  suffering  and  death  in  the  cause 
of  virtue,  if  he  has  no  expectation  that  God  will  reward 
virtue?     This  would  be  acting  against  the  principle  of 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1780.  371 

self-love,  which  is  generally  too  powerful  to  be  counter- 
acted. 

But  suppose  a  man  to  be  habitually  under  the  influence 
of  this  principle,  —  that  is,  to  believe  and  duly  consider 
God  as  his  ruler  and  judge,  who  will  hereafter  reward 
virtue  and  punish  vice  with  happiness  and  misery  respec- 
tively, unspeakably  greater  than  any  to  be  enjoyed  in  this 
world,  —  and  he  may  then,  upon  rational  principles,  and  in 
consistency  with  his  self-love,  forego  the  greatest  tempo- 
ral good,  and  expose  himself  to  the  greatest  temporal  evil, 
in  the  cause  of  virtue  ;  and  we  may  reasonably  expect 
that  he  will.  Virtue  will  be  his  chief  good ;  he  will  be 
attached  to  it  as  to  his  very  being,  with  all  the  strength 
and  ardor  of  his  love  and  desire  of  happiness.  The  fear 
of  God,  therefore,  is  the  most  effectual  and  the  only  sure 
support  of  virtue  in  the  world. 

Men  invested  with  civil  j^owers  are  not,  to  be  sure,  less, 
but  generally  much  more,  exposed  to  temptations  to  violate 
their  duty  than  other  men.  They  have  more  frequent 
opportunities  of  committing  injuries,  and  may  do  it  with 
less  fear  of  present  punishment;  and  therefore  stand  in 
need  of  every  possible  restraint  to  keep  them  from  abusing 
their  power  by  deviating  into  the  paths  of  vice. 

It  is  further  to  be  considered  that  the  practice  of  piety, 
which  is  comprised  in  the  fear  of  God,  has  a  powerful  ten- 
dency to  ennoble  and  dignify  the  mind,  and  beget  in  it  an 
abhorrence  of  everything  mean  and  base;  to  inspire  a 
magnanimity  and  fortitude  of  spirit  that  will  support  and 
carry  it  through  the  greatest  dangers  and  difficulties ;  to 
refine  and  purify  the  heart,  to  disengage  it  from  the  van- 
ities of  the  world,  and  beget  that  good-will  and  benevolence 
which  are  the  brightest  part  of  a  virtuous  character.  Con- 
templating daily  the  perfections  of  the  Deity,  as  displayed 
in  the  creation,  government,  and  redemption  of  the  world, 


372  THE    ELECTIOX    SERMON, 

must  naturally  tend  to  exalt  the  affections,  and  fix  them 
upon  divine  things ;  to  make  us  love  and  desire  to  imitate 
the  moral  character  of  God,  and  consequently  to  weaken 
the  force  of  those  lusts  which  are  so  apt  to  draw  men 
aside  and  entice  them  into  sin  ;  to  enliven  every  princi- 
ple of  virtue,  and  make  us  perfect,  even  as  our  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  the  human  mind  is  liable 
to  mistake  and  err ;  that  circumstances  often  occur,  espe- 
cially to  those  who  are  concerned  in  government,  in  which 
more  wisdom  is  necessary  than  they  are  possessed  of,  even 
though  they  may  be  able  men.  In  such  cases  we  are 
directed  to  look  up  to  God,  the  original  and  inexhaustible 
source  of  wisdom.  ISTor  have  we  any  reason  to  sus23ect 
that  such  applications  will  be  in  vain.  God  perfectly 
knows  the  human  mind,  and  all  the  ways  in  which  its 
views  and  determinations  can  be  influenced,  and  he  may, 
without  infringing  upon  its  moral  liberty,  by  a  power- 
ful though  imperceptible  operation,  put  it  into  such  a 
train  of  thinking  as  may  give  it  a  juster  view  and  lead  it 
to  a  wiser  determination  than  it  would  otherwise  have 
formed.  There  is,  I  apprehend,  nothing  in  this  suppo- 
sition inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  rational  theol- 
ogy and  natural  religion.  Nor,  without  supposing  that 
God  does  thus  interpose,  is  it  easy  to  conceive  how  that 
part  of  the  divine  government  which  is  in  the  hands  of 
civil  rulers  should  in  all  cases  be  adapted  to  the  various 
circumstances  of  jiarticular  persons.  But  there  is  little 
reason  to  think  that  this  light  and  direction  will  be 
granted  to  men  who  have  no  fear  of  God  before  their 
eyes,  because,  though  they  lack  wisdom,  they  will  not  ask 
it  of  God,  who  giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraideth 
not.  And  rulers  being  without  this  divine  counsel,  it  will 
not  be  strange  if,  merely  for  this  reason,  their  conduct  is 


1780.  373 

wrong  and  ill-judgecl,  calculated  in  many  instances  not 
for  the  good,  but  the  hurt  of  the  people,  and,  it  may  be,  at 
a  critical  time,  for  their  utter  destruction. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  God  often  brings  distress 
and  ruin  upon  a  sinful  people  through  the  ill-management 
of  their  rulers,  given  up  to  error  and  blindness.  In  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  Isaiah  we  have  a  prophecy  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  kingdom  of  Egypt ;  and  the  infatuation 
of  their  rulers  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  immediate  causes 
of  this  calamity.  "The  spirit  of  Egypt,"  says  God,  "shall 
fail,  and  I  will  destroy  the  counsel  thereof."  It  is  after- 
wards added,  "  Surely  the  princes  of  Zoan  are  fools,  the 
counsel  of  the  wise  counsellors  of  Pharaoh  is  become 
brutish."  And  in  the  twenty-ninth  chapter  of  the  same 
book  God  threatens  his  own  people  that,  for  their  hypoc- 
risy and  other  wickedness,  "  the  wisdom  of  their  wise  men 
shall  perish,  and  the  understanding  of  their  prudent  men 
shall  be  hid."  In  the  same  way,  it  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose, God  often  brings  his  judgments  upon  other  nations. 
And,  therefore,  if  a  people  desire  to  have  rulers  of  wise 
and  understanding  hearts,  counselled  and  directed  by 
Heaven,  they  should  take  care  that  they  be  men  who  fear 
God. 

Let  me  observe,  once  more,  that  it  is  of  great  importance 
to  their  happiness  that  religion  and  virtue  generally  pre- 
vail among  a  people  ;  and  in  order  to  this,  governtnent 
should  use  its  influence  to  promote  them.  Rulers  should 
encourage  them,  not  only  by  their  example,  but  by  their 
authority ;  and  the  people  should  invest  them  with  power 
to  do  this,  so  far  as  is  consistent  with  the  sacred  and 
inalienable  rights  of  conscience,  which  no  man  is  supposed 
to  give  up,  or  may  lawfully  give  up,  when  he  enters  into 
society.  But,  reserving  these,  the  people  may  and  ought 
to  give  up  every  right  and  power  to  the  magistrate  which 

32 


374  ELECTION   SERMON, 

will  enable  him  more  effectually  to  promote  the  common 
good,  without  putting  it  in  his  power  essentially  to  injure 
it.  He  ought,  therefore,  to  have  power  to  punish  all  open 
acts  of  profaneness  and  impiety,  as  tending,  by  way  of 
example,  to  destroy  that  reverence  of  God  which  is  the 
only  effectual  support  of  moral  virtue,  and  all  open  acts 
of  vice,  as  prejudicial  to  society.  He  should  have  power 
to  j^rovide  for  the  institution  and  support  of  the  public 
worship  of  God,  and  public  teachers  of  religion  and  virtue, 
in  order  to  maintain  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  rever- 
ence of  God,  and  that  sense  of  moral  obligation,  without 
which  there  can  be  no  confidence,  no  peace  or  happiness 
in  society. 

Without  such  care  in  government,  there  is  danger  that 
the  people  will  forget  the  God  that  is  above,  and  abandon 
themselves  to  vice ;  or,  to  say  the  least,  impiety  and  vice 
are  much  less  likely  to  become  general  where  such  care  is 
taken  than  where  it  is  not.  And  God  having,  in  the  con- 
stitution of  nature,  made  religion  and  virtue  conducive, 
and  even  necessary,  to  the  happiness  of  human  society,  he 
has  thereby  plainly  taught  us  that  it  is  the  duty  and  busi- 
ness of  society,  as  such,  or  of  the  civil  magistrate,  to  do 
everything  to  promote  them  that  may  be  done  without 
injuring  the  rights  of  conscience.  And  no  man  who  has 
full  liberty  of  inquiring  and  examining  for  himself,  of 
openly  publishing  and  professing  his  religious  sentiments, 
and  of  worshipping  God  in  the  time  and  manner  which  he 
chooses,  without  being  obliged  to  make  any  religious  pro- 
fession, or  attend  any  religious  worship  contrary  to  his 
sentiments,  can  justly  complain  that  his  rights  of  con- 
science   are  infrinsred.^     And   such   libertv  and   freedom 

1  The  scheme  here  indicated  by  Mr.  Howard  resembled  that  in  the  con- 
stitution of  Maryland,  which  authorized  a  "  p:encral  and  equal  tax"  for 
the  support  of  the  Christian  religion,  to  be  applied  to  the  maintenance  of 


1780.    ,  875 

every  man  may  enjoy,  though  the  government  should 
require  him  to  pay  his  proportion  towards  supporting 
public  teachers  of  religion  and  morality. 

Taking  this  care  of  religion  is  so  plain  and  important  a 
duty,  that  the  government  which  should  wholly  neglect  it 
would  not  only  act  a  very  unwise  and  imprudent  part 
with  respect  to  themselves,  but  be  guilty  of  base  ingrati- 
tude and  a  daring  affront  to  Heaven.^  By  such  conduct 
they  would,  as  a  community,  in  effect  adopt  the  language 
of  the  profane  fatalists  mentioned  by  Job,  who  "  say  unto 
God,  depart  from  us,  for  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of 
thy  ways.  What  is  the  Almighty  that  we  should  serve 
him  ?  And  what  profit  shall  we  have  if  we  pray  unto 
him  ?  "  Now,  although  it  is  possible  that  rulers  who  have 
no  religion  themselves  may  enact  proper  laws  to  support 
it  among  the  people,  yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  their 
example  will  have  great  influence,  and,  if  that  be  irreligious 
and  vicious,  will  in  some  measure  defeat  the  good  effects 
of  their  authority,  and  do  more  to  spread  corruption  than 
that  will  to  prevent  it.     It  is  therefore  highly  proper,  in 


such  minister  as  tlie  tax-payer  should  designate,  or,  if  he  preferred  it,  to 
the  support  of  the  poor.  —  Hildreth's  U.  S.,  iii.  383.    See  p.  298.  —  Ed. 

1  A  clear  and  concise  summary  of  the  early  constitutional  provisions  in 
the  scA'eral  states  on  the  subject  of  religion  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth's History  of  the  United  States,  iii.  382-385.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Revokition,  Congregationalism  was  the  established  religion  in  Massa- 
chusetts, New  Hampshire,  and  Connecticut;  the  Church  of  England  in  all 
the  southern  colonies,  and  partially  so  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  The 
equality  of  all  Protestant  sects  was  recognized  in  Rhode  Island,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Delawai-e;  and  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  last  two.  The 
priests  of  the  last-named  sect  were  liable  to  perpetual  imprisonment  or 
death  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York.  In  its  history,  principles,  and 
sympathies,  Catholicism  was  said  to  be  subversive  of  free  government;  an 
enemy  —  open  or  concealed,  as  expedient  in  its  progress  —  to  free  insti- 
tutions, the  printing-press,  common  schools,  popular  education,  the  Bible, 
and  freedom  of  opinion  and  speech  —  the  safeguards  of  liberty.  —  Ed. 


376  THE    ELECTION   SERMON, 

order  to  promote  piety  and  good  morals  among  the  people, 
that  rulers  be  men  who  fear  God  —  who  have  a  just  sense 
of  religion  on  their  own  minds,  and  conform  to  it  in  their 
lives. 

It  may  be  proper  to  add,  that  though  the  fear  of  God 
may  exist  where  there  is  no  knowledge  or  belief  of  Chris- 
tianity, yet  that  the  scheme  of  doctrines  contained  in  the 
gospel  is  much  better  calculated  than  any  other  known  to 
the  world  to  produce  and  strengthen  that  divine  principle. 
The  plan  of  redemption  which  it  unfolds  for  the  fallen 
race  of  men  exhibits  the  Deity  in  the  most  amiable  light, 
as  the  j^erfection  of  love  and  benevolence.  "  The  solemn 
scenes  which  it  opens  beyond  the  grave ;  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead;  the  general  judgment;  the  equal  distribu- 
tion of  rewards  and  punishments  to  the  good  and  bad, 
and  the  full  completion  of  divine  wisdom  and  goodness  in 
the  final  establishment  of  order,  perfection,  and  happiness," 
afford  such  motives  to  the  love  and  reverence  of  God,  and 
to  the  i^ractice  of  all  holiness  and  virtue,  as  can  be  drawn 
from  no  other  scheme  of  religion  ;  and,  therefore,  a  belief 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ  may  justly  be  considered  as  an  im- 
portant qualification  for  a  civil  ruler. 

I  might  observe  further,  under  this  particular,  that  impi- 
ous, immoral  men  at  the  head  of  government,  and  having 
authority  to  appoint  subordinate  officers,  will  probably 
make  choice  of  men  of  their  own  character,  and  in  this 
way  be  a  mean«  of  spreading  corruption,  and  of  much 
injury  to  society.^  But  I  must  pass  on  to  consider  another 
qualification  of  rulers.     For, 

3.  They  must  be  men  of  truth. 

This  means  men  free  from  deceit  and  hypocrisy,  guile, 
and  falsehood,  —  men  who  will  not,  by  flattery  and  cajol- 
ing, by  falsehood  and  slandering  a  competitor,  endeavor  to 

1  See  pp.  69,  70,  274.  —  Ed. 


I.  377 

get  into  authority ;  and  who,  when  they  are  in,  will  con- 
scientiously speak  the  truth  in  all  their  declarations  and 
promises,  and  punctually  fulfil  all  their  engagements. 

In  treating  with  other  states  they  will  act  with  the  same 
integrity  which  honest  men  do  in  their  private  affairs,  and 
promise  nothing  but  what  they  intend  and  think  they  shall 
be  able  to  perform.  Engagements  already  made  to  other 
powers  they  will  honestly  endeavor  to  fulfil,  so  far  as  it 
belongs  to  their  department,  without  seeking  or  pretend- 
ing a  cause  for  failure  when  no  such  cause  exists.^ 

They  will  show  the  same  integrity  and  fidelity  in  their 
conduct  towards  individuals.  They  will  not  promise  to 
any  one  what  they  have  reason  to  think  they  cannot  or  do 
not  intend  to  perform.  Promises  of  government  already 
made,  the  execution  of  which  belongs  to  them,  they  will 


1  "  I  hold  the  maxim  no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private  affairs, 

that  '  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.' Observe  good  faith  and 

justice  towards  all  nations;  cultivate  peace  and  harmony  with  all:  religion 
and  morality  enjoin  this  conduct;  and  can  it  be  good  policy  that  does  not 
equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be  worthy  of  a  free,  enlightened,  and,  at  no  dis- 
tant period,  a  great  nation,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and 
too  novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted  justice  and 
benevolence.  Who  can  doubt  that,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  the 
fruits  of  such  a  plan  would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantages  which 
might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to  it?  Can  it  be  that  Providence  has 
not  connected  the  permanent  felicity  of  a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The 
experiment,  at  least,  is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles 
human  nature.  Alas !  is  it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices?  "—  Washing- 
ton's Farewell. 

"  The  pretended  depth  and  difficulty  in  matters  of  state  is  a  mere  cheat. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  this  day  you  never  found  a  com- 
monwealth where  the  leaders,  having  honesty  enough,  wanted  skill  enough 
to  lead  her  to  her  true  interest  at  home  and  abroad." — Harrington. 

"  The  laws  by  which  God  governs  the  world  must  be  quite  altered,  the 
course  of  nature  must  be  reversed,  before  it  can  reasonably  be  hoped  that 
unrighteous  schemes  will  operate  for  the  real  advantage  of  a  people." — 
Hemmenway.  — Ed. 

32* 


878  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

look  upon  themselves  bound  to  fulfil,  if  possible,  that  no 
man  may  be  a  sufferer  by  confiding  in  the  public  faith. 

Civil  rulers  generally  bind  themselves  expressly,  and 
always  implicitly,  by  accepting-  their  office,  faithfully  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  it,  —  and  a  man  of  truth  will  pay 
a  sacred  regard  to  this  engagement.  He  will  not  content 
himself  with  receiving  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  his 
office  while  he  neg^lects  the  duties  of  it.  Considerinc:  that 
he  has  solemnly  bound  himself  to  do  this  business,  he  will 
give  the  same  care  and  attention  to  it  that  a  prudent  man 
in  a  private  station  does  to  his  own  particular  concerns. 
A  man  of  truth  will  not  undertake  an  office  for  which  he 
thinks  himself  incapable,  because  this  would  be  promising 
to  do  what  he  is  conscious  he  is  incapable  of  doing ;  nor 
will  he  be  instrumental  of  appointing  others  to  offices  for 
which  he  thinks  them  unqualified :  this  would  be  acting 
falsely ;  because,  by  the  appointment,  he  declares  that  he 
thinks  them  qualified.  Having  solemnly  engaged  to  use 
his  power  for  the  public  good,  he  will  never  employ  it  in 
encouraging  and  supporting  the  enemies  of  his  country,  or 
carry  on,  under  the  mask  of  patriotism,  measures  to  pro- 
mote his  own  selfish  and  private  views,  or  to  screen  and 
protect  from  public  justice  offenders  against  society.  He 
will  not  employ  his  abilities  to  impose  upon  the  under- 
standings of  others,  and  make  the  worse  appear  the  better 
reason,  in  order  to  disguise  truth  and  pervert  justice.  He 
will  not  suffer  one  man,  or  one  part  of  the  community,  to 
be  injured  and  robbed  by  another,  when  his  office  enables 
him  to  prevent  it,  because  this  would  be  violating  his 
promise.  In  a  word,  he  will  to  his  utmost  endeavor  to 
answer  the  end  of  his  institution  by  performing  the  duties 
of  his  station,  and  manifest  by  all  his  conduct  that  he  is 
an  honest,  upright  man.  He  will  make  no  false  pretences, 
he  will  put  on  no  false  appearances,  but  ever  act  with 
Christian  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity. 


1780.  o<y 

Such  will  be  the  conduct  of  men  of  truth,  and  such 
men  only  are  proper  to  be  entrusted  with  authority  over  a 
free  people.  Rulers  of  this  character  will  be  honored, 
beloved,  and  confided  in  by  their  countrymen,  and  re- 
spected by  other  nations ;  their  subjects  will  be  easy  and 
happy,  united  together  in  the  bonds  of  truth  and  love,  and 
by  their  union  able  to  defend  themselves  against  invaders ; 
their  government,  resting  on  the  basis  of  truth  and  justice, 
will  be  firm  and  stable,  revered  and  honored  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  Whereas  that  deceit  and  hypocrisy,  that 
falsehood  and  insincerity,  that  dissimulation  and  craftiness, 
which  have  so  often  dictated  the  measures  of  government 
in  most  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  which  are  ex- 
pressly recommended  to  rulers  by  Machiavel,  and  incul- 
cated, among  other  immoralities,  as  necessary  parts  of  a 
good  education,  in  the  celebrated  and  much-admired  let- 
ters of  a  late  British  nobleman  to  his  son,*  however  they 
may  sometimes  succeed  and  procure  some  temporary  ad- 
vantages, will  almost  always  weaken  and  disgrace  the  gov- 
ernment which  practises  them,^  by  sapping  the  foundation 
of  public  credit,  producing  uneasy  jealousies,  disaffection, 
divisions,  and  contempt  of  authority  among  the  people, 
and  leading  them  by  example  to  the  practice  of  the  same 
insincerity,  falsehood,  and  dishonesty  towards  one  another 
which  they  see  in  their  rulers,  and  by  rendering  them  infa- 
mous in  the  eyes  of  other  nations,  and  perhaps  raising  up 
enemies  to  punish  their  pei-fidy. 

And  it  may  without  doubt  be  asserted  with  truth,  upon 
the  principles  both  of  natural  religion  and  revelation,  that 
that  government  which  is  directed  by  truth  and  integrity 

a  Lord  Chesterfield. 

b  "There  is  no  safety  where  there  is  no  strenj^th,  uo  strength  without  union, 
no  union  without  justice,  no  justice  where  faith  and  truth  in  accomplishing 
public  and  private  engagements  is  wanting."  —  Sydney's  discourses  concerning 
government. 


380  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

will  bid  the  fairest  to  secure  and  promote  the  happiness 
of  the  community,  however  contrary  this  assertion  may  be 
to  the  principles  and  practices  of  modern  courtiers  and 
politicians.  But  I  must  proceed  to  the  other  qualification 
of  a  good  ruler  mentioned  in  the  text,  which  is 

4.  "  Hating  covetousness."  Covetousness,  you  all  know, 
is  an  inordinate  desire  of  riches,  —  such  a  desire  as  will 
make  a  man  pursue  them  by  unlawful  means,  and  prevent 
bis  using  them  in  a  right  manner.  Hating  covetousness 
is  a  strong  expression  to  denote  a  freedom  from  this  vi- 
cious temper,  and  a  sense  of  its  unreasonableness  and 
turpitude. 

That  it  is  of  great  importance  that  civil  rulers  have  this 
qualification  will  be  evident  on  a  little  reflection. 

Covetousness  is  a  fruitful  source  of  corruption.  A 
man  governed  by  this  appetite  will  be  guilty  of  any  enor- 
mity for  the  sake  of  gratifying  it.  "They  that  will  be 
rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a  snare,  and  into  many  fool- 
ish and  hurtful  lusts,  which  drown  men  in  destruction  and 
perdition ;  for  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 
Almost  all  the  oppression,  fraud,  and  violence  that  has 
been  done  under  the  sun,  has  owed  is  rise  and  progress  to 
covetousness.  The  indulgence  of  this  vice  debases  tlie 
mind,  and  renders  it  incapable  of  anything  generous  and 
noble;  contracts  its  views,  destroys  the  principles  of  benev- 
olence, friendship,  and  patriotism,  and  gives  a  tincture  of 
selfishness  to  all  its  sentiments.  It  hardens  the  heart,  and 
makes  it  deaf  to  the  cries  of  distress  and  the  dictates  of 
charity  ;  it  blinds  and  perverts  the  judgment,  and  disposes 
it  to  confound  truth  and  falsehood,  right  and  wrong. 

A  civil  ruler,  under  the  direction  of  this  principle,  will 
oppress  and  defraud  his  subjects  whenever  he  has  it  in  his 
power ;  he  will  neglect  the  duties  of  his  ofiice  whenever 
he  can  promote  his  private  interest  by  the  neglect ;  he  will 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,   1780.  381 

enact  laws  to  serve  himself,  not  the  community;  and  he  will 
enact  none  that  he  thinks  would  be  prejudicial  to  his  pri- 
vate interest,  however  beneficial  they  might  be' to  the  pub- 
lic, however  necessary  for  the  support  of  justice  and  equity 
between  man  and  man;  he  will  pervert  justice,  and  rob  the 
innocent  for  bribes ;  he  will  discourage  every  measure  that 
would  occasion  expense  to  himself,  however  salutary  to 
his  country.  Rather  than  part  with  his  money,  he  will  see 
the  arts  and  sciences,  which  are  so  ornamental  and  friendly 
to  a  community,  languish,  erudition  starve,  and  the  rising 
genius  which  promised  glory  to  his  country  nipped  in  the 
bud  by  the  cold  hand  of  poverty ;  yea,  religion  itself,  the 
greatest  honor  and  blessing  of  society,  he  will  see  lan- 
guish and  die,  rather  than  impart  anything  to  support  its 
cause.  And  having  long  looked  upon  riches  in  the  same 
light  that  good  men  do  upon  rehgion,  as  his  chief  good, 
and  feeling  the  same  attachment  to  them  which  they  do 
to  that,  he  may,  if  required  by  laws  already  made  to  pay 
anything  for  its  support,  absurdly  plead  that  it  is  against 
his  conscience,  strangely  mistaking  his  love  of  money  for 
the  love  of  God,  and  his  covetousness  for  his  conscience ; 
supposing,  with  those  corrupters  of  religion  mentioned  by 
the  apostle,  "  that  gain  is  godliness."  If  he  has  a  voice  in 
the  appointment  of  subordinate  officers,  he  will  sell  his 
vote  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  appoint  such  as  will  be 
most  subservient  to  his  private  interest,  however  unquali- 
fied for  the  oflSce.  In  a  word,  all  his  conduct,  all  his  rea- 
soning and  votes,  will  be  tinctured  by  his  selfish  spirit ; 
and  in  a  critical  time,  when  great  expense  is  necessary 
for  the  public  safety,  he  may  by  his  parsimony  be  a  means 
of  the  ruin  of  his  country. 

But  a  ruler  who  hates  covetousness  will  conduct  in  a 
very  different  manner.  He  will  never  oppress  or  wrong 
the  community;  the  public  interest  will  be  always  safe  in 


382  THE   ELECTION   SERMON, 

his  hands ;  he  will  freely  expend  his  time  and  his  estate  in 
discharging  the  duties  of  his  office  for  the  good  of  his 
country ;  he  will  be  ever  ready  to  promote  good  laws, 
though  they  deprive  him  of  opportunities  of  making  gain, 
and  involve  him  in  expense ;  he  will  devise  liberal  things, 
and  cheerfully  bear  his  part  in  the  expense  necessary  to 
carry  on  every  measure  that  promises  advantage  to  his 
country;  he  will  do  all  in  his  power  to  promote  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences,  manufactures,  and  all  useful  inventions, 
to  encourage  men  of  learning  and  genius,  and  to  aid  the 
cause  of  religion  and  virtue.  In  promoting  men  to  places 
of  trust,  he  will  be  influenced  by  no  selfish,  private  views, 
but  by  a  regard  to  the  public  good ;  no  bribe  will  purchase 
his  vote  for  an  unfit  man,  and,  hating  covetousness  himself, 
no  consideration  will  induce  him  to  give  it  for  a  sordid, 
avaricious  wretch ;  he  will  neglect  no  measures  necessary 
for  the  public  safety  and  happiness  for  fear  of  parting  with 
his  money.  In  fine,  all  his  conduct  will  bear  the  marks  of 
his  nobleness  and  liberality  of  sentiment,  of  his  disinter- 
estedness and  public  spirit. 

I  have  now  considered  the  several  qualifications  of  a 
good  ruler  mentioned  in  the  text ;  and  they  all  appear 
necessary  to  form  that  character,  whether  in  the  legisla- 
tive, executive,  or  judicial  department.  Nor  is  it  easy  to 
say  in  which  they  are  most  necessary,  though  it  is  not 
difficult  to  see  that  the  want  of  any  one  of  them  in  either 
must  be  prejudicial  and  dangerous  to  the  community. 

But  I  must  now  make  some  reflections  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  apply  it  to  the  present  occasion.     And, 

1.  What  has  been  said  of  the  necessity  of  government 
for  the  peace  and  happiness  of  mankind  may  lead  us  to 
reflect  with  shame  upon  the  selfishness  and  corruption 
of  our  species,  who,  with  all  their  rational  and  moral 
powers,  can  no  otherwise  be  kept  from  injuring  and  de- 


1780.  383 

stroying  one  another  than  by  superior  force,  or  the  fear  of 
temporal  sufferings  and  punishment,  and  with  whom  you 
are  no  longer  safe  than  it  is  unsafe  for  thera  to  hurt  you. 
This  is  a  very  humiliating  consideration  ;  and,  so  far  as  we 
know,  there  is  no  other  order  of  creatures  throughout  the 
boundless  universe  who,  if  left  to  their  natural  liberty, 
would  be  so  mischievous  to  one  another  as  man. 

2.  This  may  also  lead  us  to  reflect,  with  pleasure  and 
gratitude  to  God,  upon  the  steps  which  have  been  taken 
by  this  people  to  frame  a  new  constitution  of  govern- 
ment, and  that  a  plan  has  been  formed  which  appears,  in 
general,  so  well  calculated  to  guard  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties, and  promote  the  happiness  of  society,  and  which,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  will  soon  be  the  foundation  of  our  govern- 
ment, instead  of  that  insecure  basis  upon  which  it  now 
rests.^ 

1  The  constitution  framed  by  the  convention  Sept.  1,  1779— March  2, 
1780,  was  adopted  by  the  people,  and  the  first  Legislature  under  it  assem- 
bled at  Boston,  October  25,  1780. 

That  "all  men  are  born  free  and  equal"  was  inserted  in  the 
Declaration  of  Rights  by  the  late  Judge  Lowell,  father  of  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 
Lowell,  of  the  West  Church,  with  express  reference  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  It  was  simply  declaratory  of  public  opinion,  which  expressed 
itself  in  our  early  laws,  but  with  more  force  and  distinctness,  in  later 
years,  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press.  I  have  found  frequent  and  earnest 
reference  to  the  subject  in  the  sermons  of  the  period,  from  which  this 
volume  is  a  selection. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hemmenway,  in  a  profound  discourse  on  "A  Christian 
State,"  —  Massachusetts  Election,  1784,  —  alluding  to  a  legal  decision 
then  lately  made  by  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  that  commonwealth, 
interpreting  the  clause,  "  All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,"  and  involving 
the  existence  of  slavery,  used  these  words :  "  We  rejoice  to  find  the  right  of 
enslaving  our  fellow-men  is  absolutely  disclaimed, is  at  length  pro- 
scribed, and  is  no  longer  suffered  to  live  with  us.  And  it  is  devoutly 
wished  that  the  turf  may  lie  firm  on  its  grave."  Yet  the  system  in  Mas- 
sachusetts seems  to  have  partaken  rather  of  the  spirit,  though  not  of  the 
form,  of  the  old  English  relation  of  master  and  servant,  or  apprenticeship. 


384 

3.  We  may  likewise  see,  from  what  has  been  said,  how 
much  it  is  the  duty  and  interest  of  a  people  to  pay  due 
submission  to  the  orders  of  government,  and  to  endeavor 
unitedly  to  support  its  authority.  Both  rulers  and  sub- 
jects are  perhaps  too  apt  to  consider  their  respective 
interests  as  distinct  and  separate,  whereas  they  are  in 
truth  one  and  the  same  —  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  whole  community.  Everything  done  by  subjects  in 
obedience  to  and  support  of  the  just  authority  of  govern- 
ment, is  conducive  to  their  own  happiness  ;  and  everything 
done  by  governors  that  is  beneficial  to  the  governed,  is 
likewise  so  to  themselves ;  and  it  is  from  the  mutual 
endeavors  of  both  to  serve  each  other  that  the  prosperity 
of  society  must  result.  If  rulers  abuse  their  power  they 
may  destroy  the  happiness  of  the  community,  but  this 
may  be  done  as  effectually  by  the  subjects'  refusing  to 
obey  and  support  the  authority  of  government.^  Nor  may 
any  people  expect  to  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  society 
unless  their  government  is  preserved  in  due  force  and 
vigor. 

4.  We  are  reminded  of  the  gratitude  which  we  owe 
to  God  that  he  has  not  permitted  the  natural  and  im- 
portant right  which  every  society  has  of  electing  its  own 
rulers   to  be  wrested    out  of  our  hands,  as   is  the  case 


than  of  unlimited  ownership;  for  the  courts  sometimes  recognized  in 
them  rights  inconsistent  with  the  latter. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  no  distinct  provision  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
appears  in  any  state  constitution,  except  that  of  Delaware,  which 
provided  that  "  no  person  hereafter  imported  from  Africa  ought  to 
be  held  in  slavery  under  any  pretence  whatever;"  and  that  "no  negro, 
Indian,  or  mulatto  slave  ought  to  be  brought  into  this  state  for  sale  from 
any  part  of  the  world."  — Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii. 
390,  391,  .392.  —  Ed. 

1  See  pp.  87,  276.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1780.  385 

in  some  other  countries.  Had  Great  Britain  carried  on 
without  opposition  the  measures  she  was  pursuing  with 
us,  we  should  probably  in  a  little  time  have  been  wholly- 
deprived  of  this  privilege.  She  had  already  assumed  an 
absolute  right  of  appointing  two  brances  of  the  Legisla- 
ture.^ These  would  have  had  the  appointment  of  all  judi- 
cial and  military  officers.  And  upon  the  same  ground 
that  she  robbed  us  of  the  election  of  a  governor  formerly, 
and  of  councillors  lately,  she  might  have  annihilated  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  or,  if  she  had  not  done  this  in 
form,  she  might,  by  bribery  and  corruption,  have  rendered 
that  House  a  mere  tool  to  the  servants  of  the  crown,  as  is 
the  case  in  that  country.^  It  is  therefore  owing  to  the 
opposition  which  this  people  made  to  the  measures  of  the 
British  court,  and  to  the  blessing  of  God  upon  that  oppo- 
sition, that  they  have  now  a  voice  in  appointing  their  own 
rulers ;  otherwise  our  government  might  now  have  been 
in  the  hands  of  the  weakest  and  most  profligate  favorites 
of  that  corrupt  and  infatuated  court. 

5.  We  are  reminded  how  much  it  is  the  duty  and  inter- 
est of  a  people  who  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  right  to 

1  The  governor  and  council.  —  Ed. 

2  Thomas  Paine,  in  "  The  Crisis,  Number  III.,"  one  of  his  popular 
political  appeals  in  1775,  addressed  "  To  the  King,"  used  this  language  : 
"  Sir,  it  is  not  your  rotten  troop  in  the  present  House  of  Commons;  it  is 
not  your  venal,  beggarly,  pensioned  lords ;  it  is  not  your  polluted,  canting, 
prostituted  bench  of  bishops;  it  is  not  your  whole  set  of  abandoned  min- 
isters, nor  all  your  army  of  Scotch  cut-throats,  that  can  protect  you  from 
the  people's  rage."  This  not  elegant  but  energetic  appeal  represents 
the  contemporary  feeling  towards  the  British  government,  and  was  the 
language  best  suited  to  the  times  that  "  tried  men's  souls."  The  Earl  of 
Chatham  said,  in  the  House  of  Peers,  in  1770:  "  I  do  not  say,  my  lords, 
that  corruption  lies  here,  or  that  corruption  lies  there;  but  if  any  gentleman 
in  England  were  to  ask  me  whether  I  thought  both  Houses  of  Parliament 
were  bribed,  I  should  laugh  in  his  face,  and  say,  'Sir,  it  is  not  so! ' "  See 
also  p.  244,  note  1.  —Ed. 

33 


386  THE   ELECTION    SERMON, 

exercise  it  with  prudence  and  integrity.  The  people's  ap- 
pointing their  own  rulers  will  be  no  security  for  their  good 
government  and  happiness  if  they  pay  no  regard  to  the 
character  of  the  men  they  appoint.  A  dunce  or  a  knave, 
a  profligate  or  an  avaricious  worldling,  will  not  make  a 
good  magistrate  because  he  is  elected  by  the  people.  To 
make  this  right  of  advantage  to  the  community,  due  atten- 
tion must  be  paid  to  the  abilities  and  moral  character  of 
the  candidate.  This  is  a  consideration  that  concerns  this 
people  at  large,  as  all  have  a  voice  in  the  election  of  our 
rulers,  either  personally  or  by  their  representatives.  But 
nj^on  this  occasion  it  is  proper  to  observe  that  it  especially 
concerns  the  members  of  the  honorable  Council  and  House 
of  Representatives  here  present,  by  whom  the  councillors 
for  the  ensuing  year  are  this  day  to  be  elected.  And  I 
shall  not,  I  hope,  be  thought  to  go  beyond  my  line  of  duty  ^ 
if  I  say  that  the  electors  ought  not  to  give  their  votes  at 
random,  or  from  personal  or  private  views.  They  act  in 
this  business  in  a  public  character,  by  virtue  of  power 
delegated  to  them  by  the  people,  to  whom,  as  well  as  to 
God,  the  origin  of  all  power,  they  are  accountable  for  the 
use  they  make  of  it.  Nor  can  they  answer  it  to  either,  or 
even  to  their  own  consciences,  if,  through  interested  or 
party  views,  they  advance  to  the  council-board  men  un- 
qualified for  the  important  duties  of  that  station.  At  such 
a  critical  time  as  the  present,  the  want  of  wisdom  or  integ- 
rity in  that  House  may  be  attended  with  the  most  fatal 
consequences.  The  advice  of  Jethro  in  the  text  demands 
the  consideration  of  all  those  who  are  to  bear  a  part  in  the 
elections  of  this  day :  "  Provide  out  of  all  the  people  able 
men,  such  as  fear  God,  —  men  of  truth,  hating  covetous- 
ness."  There  never  was  a  time  when  such  men  were  more 
necessary  at  that  board  than  the  present.     Nor  would  I 

1  See  pp.  XXV.,  xxix.  —  xxxviii.,  47,  54.  — Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1780.  387 

entertain  an  opinion  so  dishonorable  to  my  country  as  to 
suppose  there  are  not  such  men  in  it ;  though  I  cannot,  at 
the  same  time,  entertain  an  idea  so  flattering  as  to  suppose 
there  are  not  many  among  us  who  fall  far  short  of  this 
character.  It  belongs  to  the  present  electors  to  distinguish, 
so  far  as  they  can,  these  characters  one  from  the  other,  and 
to  give  their  votes  only  for  the  former.  Whoever  con- 
siders the  part  which  this  Board  has  in  legislation,  —  their 
authority  in  directing  the  military  and  naval  force  of  the 
state,  their  being  invested  with  the  supreme  executive 
power,  and,  in  some  important  cases,  with  a  supreme  judi- 
cial power,  —  will  be  sensible  that  great  wisdom,  integrity, 
and  fortitude  are  necessary  for  the  right  management  of 
these  powers.  Should  they  be  committed  to  men  of  small 
abilities  and  little  knowledge, — men  unacquainted  with  the 
nature  of  government,  and  with  the  circumstances  of  this 
state,  —  men  void  of  integrity,  of  narrow,  contracted  views, 
governed  by  ambition,  avarice,  or  some  other  selfish  pas- 
sion, —  men  of  no  fortitude  and  resolution,  of  dastardly, 
eifeminate  spirits,  —  should  such  men,  I  say,  be  intrusted 
with  the  great  and  important  powers  vested  in  the  Council, 
what  could  be  expected  but  that  their  public  conduct 
would  bear  the  marks  of  their  ignorance,  weakness,  effem- 
inacy, and  selfishness,  to  the  great  injury  and  dishonor,  if 
not  to  the  ruin,  of  the  Commonwealth?  And  though  such 
men  may  be  as  fond  of  this  station  as  those  who  are  best 
qualified  for  it,  and  perhaps  much  fonder,  yet  it  would  be  so 
far  from  rendering  them  truly  honorable,  that  it  would  only 
render  them  the  more  infamous,  by  bringing  into  public 
view  their  vices  and  defects,  while  the  electors  of  such  men 
would  fix  an  indelible  stain  upon  their  own  characters,  and 
inherit  the  curses  of  the  present  and  future  generations. 

But  men  who  have   themselves  been  honored  by  the 
unbiased  suffi-ages  of  their   country  must   surely  be  too 


388  THE   ELECTION   SERMON, 

wise  and  A'irtuous  thus  to  prostitute  their  votes ;  and  it 
may,  I  hope,  be  taken  for  granted  that  knowledge  and 
integi'ity,  the  fear  of  God,  and  a  public  spirit,  will  govern 
in  the  ensuing  election,  and  such  men  be  raised  to  the 
council-board  as  will  do* honor  to  that  respectable  station, 
to  their  electors,  and  themselves.^ 

I  now  beg  leave,  with  all  due  deference  and  submission,  to 
suggest  a  few  things  that  may  reasonably  be  expected  of  a 
General  Court,  composed  of  such  men  as  the  text  describes, 
by  the  people  who  have  invested  them  with  this  power  and 
authority.  It  may  be  expected  that  they  will  give  due 
attention  to  the  public  affairs  committed  to  their  care.  By 
accepting  a  seat  in  either  House,  a  man  does,  implicitly  at 

1  Councillors  for  1780. 
For  the  old  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  : 
t  Hon.  James  Bowdoix,  Esq. ;  Hon.  Samuel  Niles,  Esq. ; 

Thomas  Cushing,  Esq. ;  Samuel  Baker,  Esq. ; 

Jabez  Fisher,  Esq.;  John  Pitts,  Esq.; 

Samuel  Holton,  Esq.;  t  Eleazer  Brooks,  Esq.; 

Moses  Gill,  Esq.;  Aaron  Wood,  Esq.; 

t  Benj.  Austin,  Esq.;  t  Stephen  Choate,  Esq.; 

Timothy  Danielson,  Esq.;  t  Caleb  Strong,  Esq.; 

JosiAH  Stone,  Esq.;  t  William  Whiting,  Esq.; 

Abraham  Fuller,  Esq. ;  t  Joseph  Dorr,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Colony  of  New  Plymouth  : 
Hon.  Walter  Spooner,  Esq.;  Hon.  Nathan  Cushing,  Esq.; 

Dan.  Davis,  Esq.;  Thomas  Durfee,  Esq. 

For  the  late  Province  of  Maine  : 
Hon.  Jere.  Powell,  Esq. ;  Hon.  Edward  Cutt,  Esq. ; 

Hon.  Joseph  Simpson,  Esq. 

For  Sagadahock: 
Hon.  Henry  Gardner,  Esq. 

At  Large: 
t  Hon.  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Esq.  ;   Hon.  Benjamin  "White,  Esq. 

t  Not  of  the  Board  the  last  year. 

—  Ed. 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1780.  389 

least,  solemnly  engage  to  attend  to  the  business  which  is 
there  to  be  transacted.  Nor  do  I  see  how  he  can  with  any 
propriety  be  called  a  man  of  truth  who,  after  such  engage- 
ment, neglects  that  business  for  the  sake  of  going  to  his 
farm,  his  merchandise,  or  his  pleasure.  It  appears  to  me 
that  such  neglect  argues  great  unfaithfulness  in  the  delin- 
quents, and  it  may  be  attended  with  very  pernicious  con- 
sequences. Individuals  may,  and  often  do,  plead  in  excuse 
for  this,  that  the  business  may  be  done  without  them ;  but 
they  ought  to  remember  that  every  one  has  an  equal  riglit 
to  excuse  himself  by  this  plea,  and  if  all  should  do  so,  the 
concerns  of  the  public  must  be  wholly  neglected.  But 
it  may  be  justly  expected  that  our  civil  rulers  will  take 
due  care  to  provide  for  the  public  defence.  Notwithstand- 
ing  the  great  exertions  we  have  already  made,  and  the 
great  things  which  God  has  done  for  us,  we  must  still  con- 
tend with  the  enemies  of  our  rights  and  liberties,  or  be- 
come their  abject  slaves.  And  it  depends  in  a  great  mea- 
sure ujion  our  public  rulers,  under  God,  whether  we  shall 
contend  with  success  or  not.  It  is  by  their  seasonable  and 
prudent  measures  that  an  army  is  to  be  provided  and  fui'- 
nished  with  necessaries  to  oppose  the  enemy ;  and  it  must 
be  the  wish  of  every  true  American  that  nothing  may  be 
omitted  which  can  be  done  to  support  and  render  success- 
ful so  important  a  cause,  —  a  cause  so  just  in  the  sight  of 
God  and  man,  which  Heaven  has  so  remarkably  owned, 
and  all  wise  and  good  men  approved,  —  a  cause  which  not 
only  directly  involves  in  it  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
America,  but  in  which  the  happiness  of  mankind  is  so 
nearly  concerned,  — for  in  this  extensive  light  I  have 
always  considered  the  cause  in  which  we  are  contending. 
Should  our  enemies  finally  prevail,  and  establish  that  abso- 
lute dominion  over  us  at  which  they  aim,  they  would  not 
only  render  us  the  most  miserable  of  all  nations,  but  prob- 

33* 


890 


fibly  be  able,  by  the  riches  and  forces  of  America,  to  triumph 
over  the  arms  of  France  and  Spain,  and  carry  their  con- 
quests to  every  corner  of  the  globe ;  nor  can  we  doubt  but 
that  they  vrould  carry  them  wherever  there  was  wealth  to 
tempt  the  enterprise.  The  noble  spirit  of  liberty  which 
has  arisen  in  Ireland^  would  be  instantly  crushed,  and  the 
brave  men  who  have  appeared  foremost  in  its  support  be 
rewarded  with  an  axe  or  a  halter.  The  few  advocates  for 
this  suffering  cause  in  Britain  would  be  hunted  and  perse- 
cuted as  enemies  to  government,  and  be  obliged  in  despair 
to  abandon  her  interest.  And  in  every  country  where  this 
event  should  be  known  the  friends  of  liberty  would  be 
disheartened,  and,  seeing  her  in  the  power  of  her  enemies, 
forsake  her,  as  the  disciples  of  Christ  did  their  Master; 
so  that  our  being  subdued  to  the  will  of  our  enemies 
might,  in  its  consequences,  be  the  banishment  of  liberty 
from  among  mankind.  The  heaven-born  virgin,  seeing 
her  votaries  slain,  her  altars  overthrown,  and  her  temples 
demolished,  and  finding  no  safe  habitation  on  earth,  would 
be  obliged,  like  the  great  patron  of  liberty  the  First-born 
of  God,  to  ascend  to  her  God  and  our  God,  her  Father 
and  our  Father,  from  whom  she  was  sent  to  bless  man- 
kind, leaving  an  ungrateful  world,  after  she  had,  like  him, 
been  "rejected  and  despised  of  men,"  in  slavery  and 
misery,  till  with  him  she  shall  again  descend  to  reign  and 
triumph  on  earth.  Such  might  be  the  consequence  should 
the  arms  of  Britain  triumph  over  us.  Whereas,  if  America 
preserves  her  freedom,  she  will  be  an  asylum  for  the  op- 
pressed and  persecuted  of  every  country;  her  examj)le  and 

'  Towards  the  close  of  the  Amcncan  war  there  spranp;  up  in  Ireland  a 
]aro:e  party,  who  declared  that  no  power  on  earth  could  bind  Ireland  but 
its  own  kinjr,  lords,  and  commons.  January  1,  1800,  the  separate  le<;is- 
laturc  of  Ireland  being  suppressed,  its  legislative  union  with  Great  Britain 
was  effected.  —Ed. 


1780.  391 

success  "svill  encourage  the  friends  and  rouse  a  spirit  of 
liberty  through  other  nations,  and  will  probably  be  the 
means  of  freedom  and  happiness  to  Ireland,  and  perhaps 
in  time  to  Great  Britain,  and  many  other  countries.  So 
that  our  contest  is  not  merely  for  our  own  families,  friends, 
and  posterity,  but  for  the  rights  of  humanity,  for  the  civil 
and  religious  privileges  of  mankind.  We  have  surely, 
then,  a  right  to  expect  that  the  government  of  this  state 
will  neglect  no  measure  that  is  necessary  on  their  part  to 
aid  so  interesting  a  cause,  whatever  difficulties  or  expense 
may  attend  it ;  and  I  hope  it  may  with  equal  confidence 
be  expected  that  the  people  will  cheerfully  lend  their 
arms  and  bear  the  expense  that  may  be  required  for  so 
glorious  a  purpose.  Great  expense  must,  without  doubt,  be 
necessary  to  carry  on  our  defence  ;  but  whoever  is  disposed 
on  this  account  to  give  up  the  dispute,  proves  himself  to- 
tally unworthy  of  the  liberty  for  which  we  are  contending. 

As  the  support,  or  rather  the  recovery,  of  the  public 
credit  is  absolutely  necessary  to  our  having  a  respectable 
army  in  the  field,  as  well  as  to  our  internal  peace  and  pros- 
perity, it  may  be  expected  that  this  government  will  not 
be  wanting  in  any  measure  for  this  purpose  which  wisdom 
and  sound  policy  can  suggest. 

If  by  means  of  the  depreciation  of  our  paper  currency, 
and  any  law  of  this  state,  many  persons  have  sufiered,  and 
are  still  liable  to  sufier  great  injury,  —  if  this  injustice  falls 
principally  upon  widows  and  fitherless  children,  and  such 
others  as  are  least  able  to  support  themselves  under  the 
loss,  — this  surely  is  an  evil  that  ought  speedily  to  be  re- 
dressed; and,  if  it  be  possible,  compensation  should  be 
made  to  the  sufferers  by  those  who  have  grown  rich  by 
this  iniquity.  And  as  the  General  Court  of  the  last  year 
did  with  great  justice  make  an  allowance  for  the  deprecia- 
tion  of  the  currency,  in  fixing  their  own   wages,  and  in 


392  THE   ELECTION   SERMON, 

some  other  instances,  it  may  justly  be  expected  that  the 
honorable  court  of  this  year  will  go  on  to  extend  this  jus- 
tice to  every  part  of  the  community,  and  order  the  same 
allowance  to  be  made  in  discharging  all  debts  and  contracts, 
however  their  private  interests  may  be  thereby  affected. 

The  large  taxes  now  levying,  and  to  be  levied,  make  it 
peculiarly  proper  that  great  care  should  be  taken  in  fixing 
the  proportion  which  the  different  j^arts  of  the  community 
are  respectively  to  pay;  and  we  have  a  right  to  expect 
that  our  honored  fathers  who  are  to  guard  the  rights  of  the 
whole  will  not  require  any  particular  part  to  bear  a  greater 
proportion  of  this  burden  than  is  just,  considering  its  ability 
and  circumstances. 

Liberty  and  learning  are  so  friendly  to  each  other,  and 
so  naturally  thrive  and  flourish  together,  that  we  may 
justly  expect  that  the  guardians  of  the  former  will  not 
neglect  the  latter.  The  good  education  of  children  is  a 
matter  of  great  importance  to  the  commonwealth.  Youth 
is  the  time  to  plant  the  mind  with  the  principles  of  virtue, 
truth  and  honor,  the  love  of  liberty  and  of  their  country, 
and  to  furnish  it  with  all  useful  knowledge ;  and  though 
in  this  business  much  depends  upon  parents,  guardians,  and 
masters,  yet  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  government  to  make 
provision  for  schools  and  all  suitable  means  of  instruction. 
Our  college  justly  claims  the  patronage  and  assistance  of 
the  state,  in  return  for  the  able  men  with  which  she  has 
furnished  the  public,^  not  to  observe  that  her  present  suf- 
fering and  low  state  renders  her  an  object  of  pity.  By  the 
well-known  depreciation,  she,  as  Avell  as  many  of  her  sons 
in  the  ministry,  have  lost  a  great  part  of  their  income,  — 
she  and  they  having  in  this  respect  had  the  same  hard  lot 
with  widows  and  orphans.^  Nor  will  I  suppose  that  we 
shall  ever  have  a  General  Court  of  so  little  love  to  their 


iSce 


p.  xxxiv.  —  Ed.  ^  See  page  368,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


PREACHED    AT   BOSTON,    1780.  393 

country,  or  so  little  sensible  of  the  importance  of  literature 
to  its  virtue,  liberty,  and  happiness  —  so  barbarous  and 
savage  as  to  suffer  her,  or  any  of  her  family,  to  languish  in 
poverty,  or  to  want  what  is  necessary  to  their  making  a 
decent  and  honorable  appearance.^ 

If  anything  can  be  done  by  government  to  discourage 
prodigality  and  extravagance,  vain  and  expensive  amuse- 
ments and  fantastic  foppery,  and  to  encourage  the  opposite 
virtues,  we  may  reasonably  hope  it  will  not  be  neglected. 
The  fondness  of  our  countrymen  —  or,  shall  I  say,  country- 
women?—  for  showy  and  useless  ornaments,  and  other 
articles  of  luxury,  has  been  remarked  by  a  gentleman  in 
Europe,  of  great  eminence  for  political  wisdom,  as  very  un- 
becoming our  present  circumstances.  This  is  a  folly  that 
bodes  ill  to  the  public,  and  it  must  be  the  wish  of  every 
wise  and  good  man  that  it  were  laid  aside.  Men  in  au- 
thority, if  they  can  do  no  more,  may  at  least  discoun- 
tenance it  by  their  example,  and  this  will  not  be  without 
its  good  effect. 

Finally,  our  political  fathers  will  not  fail  to  do  all  they 
can  to  promote  religion  and  virtue  through  the  commu- 
nity, as  the  surest  means  of  rendering  their  government 
easy  and  happy  to  themselves  and  the  people.  For  this 
purpose  they  will  watch  over  their  morals  with  the  same 
affectionate  and  tender  care  that  a  pious  and  prudent  par- 
ent watches  over  his  children,  and,  by  all  the  methods 
which  love  to  God  and  man  can  iuspire  and  wisdom  point 
out,  endeavor  to  check  and  suppress  all  impiety  and  vice, 
and  lead  the  people  to  the  practice  of  that  righteousness 
which  exalteth  a  nation.  If  any  new  laws  are  wanting,  or 
more  care  in  the  execution  of  laws  already  made,  for  dis- 
couraging profaneness,  intemperance,  lewdness,  extrava- 
gant  gaming,  extortion,  fraud,  oppression,  or   any  other 

1  See  pp.  335,  352,  367.  —  Ed. 


394 


vice,  they  will  take  speedy  care  to  supply  this  defect,  and 
render  themselves  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  as  well  as  a'n  en- 
couragement to  such  as  do  well.  They  will  promote  to 
l^laces  of  trust  men  of  piety,  truth,  and  benevolence.  Nor 
will  they  fail  to  exhibit  in  their  own  lives  a  fair  example 
of  that  piety  and  virtue  which  they  wish  to  see  practised 
by  the  j^eople.  They  will  show  that  they  are  not  ashamed 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  by  paying  a  due  regard  to  his 
sacred  institutions,  and  to  all  the  laws  of  his  kingdom. 
Magistrates  may  j^robably  do  more  in  this  way  than  in 
any  other,  and  perhaps  more  than  any  other  order  of  men, 
to  preserve  or  recover  the  morals  of  a  people.  The  man- 
ners of  a  court  are  peculiarly  catching,  and,  like  the  blood 
in  the  heart,  quickly  flow  to  the  most  distant  members  of 
the  body.  If,  therefore,  rulers  desire  to  see  religion  and 
virtue  flourish  in  the  community  over  which  they  preside, 
they  must  countenance  and  encourage  them  by  their  own 
example.  And  to  excite  them  to  this,  I  must  not  omit  to 
observe  that,  though  the  fear  of  God,  a  regard  to  truth, 
and  a  hatred  of  covetousness,  are  necessary  to  form  the 
character  of  a  good  ruler,  they  are,  if  possible,  still  more 
necessary  to  form  the  character  of  a  good  man,  and  secure 
the  approbation  of  God,  the  Judge  of  all;  for  to  him 
magistrates,  in  common  with  other  men,  are  accountable. 
Nor  does  he  regard  the  persons  of  princes  any  more  than 
of  their  subjects.  If  they  are  impious  and  vicious,  if  they 
abuse  their  power,  they  may  bring  great  misery  upon 
other  men,  but  they  will  surely  bring  much  greater  upon 
themselves.  The  eye  of  Heaven  surveys  all  their  coun- 
sels, designs,  and  actions;  and  the  day  is  coming  when 
these  shall  all  be  made  manifest,  and  every  one  receive 
according  to  his  works.  Happy  they  who  in  that  day 
shall  be  found  faithful,  for  they  shall  lift  up  their  heads 
with  confidence,  and,  amidst  applauding  angels,  enter  into 


PREACHED   AT   BOSTON,    1780.  395 

they  joy  of  their  Lord ;  while  those  who  have  oppressed 
and  injured  the  people  by  their  power,  and  corrupted 
them  by  their  example,  shall  be  covered  with  shame  and 
confusion,  and  sentenced  to  that  place  of  blackness  and 
darkness,  where  there  is  weeping,  and  wailing,  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth ! 

Let  me  now  conclude  by  reminding  this  assembly  in 
general  that  it  concerns  us  all  to  fear  God,  and  to  be  men 
of  truth,  hating  covetousness.  The  low  and  declining 
state  of  religion  and  virtue  among  us  is  too  obvious  not 
to  be  seen,  and  of  too  threatening  an  aspect  not  to  be 
lamented,  by  all  the  lovers  of  God  and  their  country. 
Though  our  happiness  as  a  community  depends  much 
upon  the  conduct  of  our  rulers,  yet  it  is  not  in  the  power 
of  the  best  government  to  make  an  impious,  profligate 
people  happy.  How  well  soever  our  public  affairs  may 
be  managed,  we  may  undo  ourselves  by  our  vices.  And 
it  is  from  hence,  I  apprehend,  that  our  greatest  danger 
arises.  That  spirit  of  infidelity,  selfishness,  luxury,  and 
dissipation,  which  so  deeply  marks  our  present  manners,  is 
more  formidable  than  all  the  arms  of  our  enemies.  Would 
we  but  reform  our  evil  ways,  humble  ourselves  under  the 
corrections,  and  be  thankful  for  the  mercies  of  Heaven  ;  re- 
vive that  piety  and  public  spirit,  that  temperance  and  fru- 
gality, which  have  entailed  immortal  honor  on  the  memory 
of  our  renowned  ancestors ;  we  might  then,  putting  our 
trust  in  God,  humbly  hope  that  our  public  calamities  would 
be  soon  at  an  end,  our  independence  established,  our 
rights  and  liberties  secured,  and  glory,  peace,  and  happi- 
ness dwell  in  our  land.  Such  happy  effects  to  the  public 
might  we  expect  from  a  general  reformation. 

But  let  every  one  remember  that,  whatever  others  may 
do,  and  however  it  may  fare  with  our  country,  it  shall 
surely  be  well '  with   the   righteous ;    and  when    all   the 


396  THE    ELECTION   SEIUION,    1780. 

mighty  states  and  empires  of  this  world  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  i^ass  away  "  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vis- 
ion," they  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  their  Father, 
which  cannot  be  moved,  and,  in  the  enjoyment  and  exer- 
cise of  perfect  peace,  liberty,  and  love,  shine  forth  as  the 
sun  forever  and  ever. 


The  UNITED  STATES  elevated  to 
Glory  and  Honor. 

A 

SERMON, 

Preached  before 
His    Excellency 

JONATHAN  TRUMBULL,EsQ  L.L.D. 

Governor  and   Commander   in   Chief, 
And  the  Honorable 

The  General  Assembly 

O  F 

The  State  of  CONNECTICUT, 

Convened  at  Hartford, 
At  the 

Anniverfary  Election, 

May  8th,   1783. 

By    Ezra    Stiles,  D.  D. 

President   of    Yale-College. 

NEW-HAVEN: 
Printed   by    THOMAS  '^  SAxMUEL    GREEN. 

M,DCC,LXXXIII. 


At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut,  holden  at  Hartford  on  the  second  Thursday  of  May, 
Anno  Dom.  1783. 

Ordered,  That  Eoger  Sherman,  Esq.,  and  Captain  Henry  Daggett  return  the 
thanks  of  this  Assembly  to  the  Reverend  Doctor  Ezra  Stiles  for  his  Sermon 
delivered  before  the  Assembly  on  the  8th  instant;  and  desire  a  copy  thereof,  that 
it  may  be  printed. 

A  true  copy  of  Eecord, 

Examined  by 

GEOKE  WTLLYS,  Secretary. 


EDITOR'S  PREFATORY  NOTE. 


Peesidext  Stiles  was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  high-minded  men 
of  his  time.  He  was  familiar  with  the  lore  of  the  Hebrew  and  Christian 
Church.  He  conversed  and  corresponded  in  Hebrew,  Latin,  and  French, 
with  facility,  and  was  learned  in  the  Oriental  literature  and  antiquities 
connected  with  Biblical  history.  He  taught  in  astronomy,  chemistry,  and 
philosophy.  He  and  his  friend  Dr.  Franklin  were  among  the  earliest 
statisticians  in  America,  and  his  studies  in  this  science  exhibit  the  most 
comprehensive  and  enlightened  views.  That  he  was  a  thorough  antiquary 
is  manifest  in  his  history  of  the  Three  Tyrannicides,  and  that  he  was  a 
true  son  of  New  England  appears  in  his  saying  that  the  day  of  the 
"  martyrdom"  of  King  Charles  I.  "  ought  to  be  celebrated  as  an  anniver- 
sary thanksgiving  that  one  nation  on  earth  had  so  much  fortitude  and 
public  justice  as  to  make  a  royal  tjTant  bow  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people." 

By  an  extensive  foreign  correspondence  he  kept  up  with  the  progress 
of  knowledge  and  discovery,  to  which  he  himself  contributed.  That  he 
was  a  zealous  and  an  understanding  friend  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  a 
man  of  practical  knowledge  and  observation,  a  sagacious  student  of  men 
and  things,  is  apparent  in  his  discourse  on  "  Christian  Union,"  1760,  as 
well  as  in  this  remarkable  sermon  of  1783,  on  the  "  United  States  elevated 
to  Glory  and  Honor."  Chancellor  Kent  said,  at  the  Commencement  at 
Yale  College,  in  1831 :  "  President  Stiles's  zeal  for  civil  and  rehgious  liberty 
was  kindled  at  the  altar  of  the  English  and  New  England  Puritans,  and  it 
was  animating  and  vivid.  A  more  constant  and  devoted  friend  to  the 
Revolution  and  independence  of  this  country  never  existed.  Take  him  for 
all  in  all,  this  extraordinary  man  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  purest  and 
best  gifted  men  of  his  age.  Though  he  was  uncompromising  in  his  belief 
and  vindication  of  the  Protestant  faith,  he  was  nevertheless  of  the  most 


400  editor's  prefatory  note. 

charitable  and  catholic  temper,  resulting  equally  from  the  benevolence  of 
his  disposition  and  the  spirit  of  the  gospel."  The  Rev.  Dr.  Channing  said 
of  Dr.  Stiles:  "This  country  has  not  perhaps  produced  a  more  learned 

man His  virtues  were  proportioned  to  his  intellectual  acquisition. 

In  his  faith  he  was  what  is  called  a  moderate  Calvinist;  but  his 

heart  was  of  no  sect He  desired  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  divided 

Church  of  Christ,  not  by  a  common  creed,  but  by  the  spirit  of  love 

He  wished  to  break  every  3^oke,  civil  and  ecclesia^ical,  from  men's  necks. 
To  the  influence  of  this  distinguished  man  in  the  circle  in  which  I  was 
brought  up,  I  may  owe  in  part  the  indignation  which  I  feel  towards  every 
invasion  of  human  rights.  In  my  earliest  years  I  regarded  no  other 
human  being  with  equal  reverence."  Nor  did  his  zeal  as  a  scholar  lessen 
his  fidelity  as  a  pastor  and  preacher  in  his  ministry  at  Newport,  then 
second  only  to  Boston  in  commerce. 

Ezra  Stiles,  son  of  Rev.  Isaac  Stiles,  was  born  in  North  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, December  10,  1727;  graduated  at  Yale  in  1747;  delivered  a 
Latin  oration,  in  1753,  in  memory  of  Dean  Berkeley,  and  another  at 
New  Haven,  in  February,  1755,  in  honor  of  Dr.  Franklin,  with  whom  he 
had  a  life-long  friendship.  He  was  minister  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
from  1755  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  1777;  became 
pastor  of  the  North  Church  in  Portsmouth,  but  was  soon  appointed 
President  of  Yale  College,  an  office  which  he  adorned;  and  died  May 
12th,  1795.  The  present  edition  of  his  Election  Sermon  is  reprinted  from 
the  edition  of  1783,  at  New  Haven.  It  was  reprinted  in  London,  as  a  lite- 
rary curiosity,  in  all  the  luxury  and  splendor  of  large  paper  and  bold 
type.  —  Sparks's  American  Biography,  xvi.  78;  Sprague's  Annals,  i.  470, 
479;  Dr.  Park's  Life  of  Hopkins. 


DISCOURSE  IX 


ELECTION  SERMON. 


AITD  TO  MAKE  THEE  HIGH  ABOVE  ALL  NATIONS  WHICH  HE  HATH  MADE,  IN 
PRAISE,  AND  IN  NAME,  AND  IN  HONOR;  AND  THAT  THOU  MAYEST  BE  AN 
HOLY  PEOPLE  UNTO  THE  LORD  THY   GOD.  —  Deut.  XXVi.  19. 


Taught  by  the  omniscient  Deity,  Moses  foresaw  and 
predicted  the  capital  events  relative  to  Israel,  through  the 
successive  changes  of  depression  and  glory,  until  their  final 
elevation  to  the  first  dignity  and  eminence  among  the 
empires  of  the  world.  These  events  have  been  so  ordered 
as  to  become  a  display  of  retribution  and  sovereignty ;  for, 
while  the  good  and  evil  hitherto  felt  by  this  people  have 
been  dispensed  in  the  way  of  exact  national  retribution, 
their  ultimate  glory  and  honor  will  be  of  the  divine  sover- 
eignty, with  a  "  ]!!^ot  for  your  sakes  do  I  this,  saith  the 
Lord,  be  it  known  unto  you,  but  for  mine  holy  name's 
sake." 

However  it  may  be  doubted  whether  political  commu- 
nities are  rewarded  and  punished  in  this  world  only,  and 
whether  the  prosperity  and  decline  of  other  empires  have 
corresponded  with  their  moral  state  as  to  virtue  and  vice, 
yet  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  theocracy  shows  that  the 
secular  welfare  of  God's  ancient  people  depended  upon 
their  virtue,  their  religion,  their  observance  of  that  holy  cov- 
enant which  Israel  entered  into  with  God  on  the  plains  at 
the  foot  of  Nebo,  on  the  other  side  Jordan.     Here  Moses, 

34* 


402  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

the  man  of  God,  assembled  three  million  of  people,  —  the 
number  of  the  United  States,  —  recapitulated  and  gave 
them  a  second  publication  of  the  sacred  jural  institute, 
delivered  thirty-eight  years  before,  with  the  most  awful 
solemnity,  at  Mount  Sinai.  A  law  dictated  with  sovereign 
authority  by  the  Most  High  to  a  people,  to  a  world,  a 
universe,  becomes  of  invincible  force  and  obligation  with- 
out any  reference  to  the  consent  of  the  governed.  It  is 
obligatory  for  three  reasons,  viz.,  its  original  justice  and 
unerring  equity,  the  omnipotent  Authority  by  which  it  is 
enforced,  and  the  sanctions  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
But  in  the  case  of  Israel  he  condescended  to  a  mutual 
covenant,  and  by  the  hand  of  Moses  led  his  people  to 
avouch  the  Lord  Jehovah  to  be  their  God,  and  in  the  most 
public  and  explicit  manner  voluntarily  to  engage  and  cov- 
enant with  God  to  keep  and  obey  his  law.  Thereupon 
this  great  prophet,  whom  God  had  raised  up  for  so  solemn 
a  transaction,  declared  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  the 
Most  High  avouched,  acknowledged,  and  took  them  for  a 
peculiar  people  to  himself;  promising  to  be  their  God  and 
Protector,  and  upon  their  obedience  to  make  them  j^ros- 
perous  and  happy.*^  He  foresaw,  indeed,  their  rejection  of 
God,  and  predicted  the  judicial  chastisement  of  apostasy  — 
a  chastisement  involving  the  righteous  with  the  wicked. 
But,  as  well  to  comfort  and  support  the  righteous  in  every 
age,  and  under  every  calamity,  as  to  make  his  power  known 
among  all  nations,  God  determined  that  a  remnant  should 
be  saved.  Whence  Moses  and  the  prophets,  by  divine 
direction,  interspersed  their  writings  with  promises  that 
when  the  ends  of  God's  moral  government  should  be 
answered  in  a  series  of  national  punishments,  inflicted  for 
a  succession  of  ages,  he  would,  by  his  irresistible  power 
and  sovereign  grace,  subdue  the  hearts  of  his  people  to  a 

a  Deut.  xxix.  10,  14;  xxx.  9, 19. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   403 

free,  willing,  joyful  obedience;  turn  their  captivity;  recover 
and  gather  them  "  from  all  the  nations  whither  the  Lord 
had  scattered  them  in  his  fierce  anger;  bring  them  into 
the  land  which  their  fathers  possessed ;  and  multiply  them 
above  their  fathers,  and  rejoice  over  them  for  good,  as  he 
rejoiced  over  their  fathers.^  Then  the  words  of  Moses, 
hitherto  accomplished  but  in  part,  will  be  literally  ful- 
filled, when  this  branch  of  the  posterity  of  Abraham  shall 
be  nationally  collected,  and  become  a  very  distinguished 
and  glorious  people,  under  the  great  Messiah,  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  He  will  then  "make  them  high  above  all  na- 
tions which  he  hath  made,  in  praise,  and  in  name,  and  in 
honor,  and  they  shall  become  a  holy  people  unto  the  Lord 
their  God." 

I  shall  enlarge  no  further  upon  the  primary  sense  and 
literal  accomplishment  of  this  and  numerous  other  prophe- 
cies respecting  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  in  the  latter-day 
glory  of  the  church  ;  for  I  have  assumed  the  text  only  as 
introductory  to  a  discourse  upon  the  political  welfare  of 
God's  American  Israel,  and  as  allusively  prophetic  of  the 
future  prosperity  and  splendor  of  the  United  States.  We 
may,  then,  consider  — 

I.  What  reason  we  have  to  expect  that,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  these  States  may  prosper  and  flourish  into  a  great 
American  Republic,  and  ascend  into  high  and  distinguished 
honor  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  "To  make  thee 
high  above  all  nations  which  he  hath  made,  in  praise,  and 
in  name,  and  in  honor." 

II.  That  our  system  of  dominion  and  civil  polity  would 
be  imperfect  without  the  true  religion  ;  or  that  from  the 
diffusion  of  virtue  among  the  people  of  any  community 
would  arise  their  greatest  secular  happiness :  which  will 
terminate  in  this  conclusion,  that  holiness  ought  to  be  the 

a  Deut.  XXX.  3. 


404  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

end  of  all  civil  government.    "  That  thou  mayest  be  a  holy- 
people  unto  the  Lord  thy  God." 

I.  The  first  of  these  propositions  will  divide  itself  into 
two  branches,  and  lead  us  to  show, 

1.  Wherein  consists  the  true  political  welfare  and  pros- 
perity, and  what  tlie  civil  administration  necessary  for  the 
elevation  and  advancement  of  a  people  to  the  highest 
secular  glory. 

2.  The  reasons  rendering  it  probable  that  the  United 
States  will,  by  the  ordering  of  Heaven,  eventually  become 
this  people.  But  I  shall  combine  these  together  as  I  go 
along. 

Dominion  is  founded  in  property,  and  resides  where  that 
is,  whether  in  the  hands  of  the  few  or  many.  The  domin- 
ion founded  in  the  feudal  tenure  of  estate  is  suited  to  hold 
a  conquered  country  in  subjection,  but  is  not  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  free  citizens.  Large  territorial  prop- 
erty vested  in  individuals  is  pernicious  to  society.  Civil- 
ians, in  contemplating  the  principles  of  government,  have 
judged  superior  and  inferior  partition  of  property  necessary 
in  order  to  preserve  the  subordination  of  society  and  es- 
tablish a  permanent  system  of  dominion.  This  makes  the 
public  defence  the  interest  of  a  few  landholders  only. 

A  free  tenure  of  lands,,  an  equable  distribution  of  j^rop- 
erty,  enters  into  the  foundation  of  a  happy  state,  —  so  far, 
I  mean,  as  that  the  body  of  the  people  may  have  it  in  their 
power,  by  industry,  to  become  possessed  of  real  freehold, 
fee-simple  estate ;  for  connected  with  this  w^ill  be  a  gen- 
eral spirit  and  principle  of  self-defence  —  defence  of  our 
property,  liberty,  country.  This  has  been  singularly  veri- 
fied in  New  England,  where  we  have  realized  the  capital 
ideas  of  Harrington's  Oceana.^ 

1  "The  Commonwealth  of  Oceana,"  by  James  Harrington,  Chief  of  the 
Commonwealth  Club,  was  published  in  1656,  when  Cromwell  Avas  in  the 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   405 

But  numerous  population,  as  well  as  industry,  is  neces- 
sary towards  giving  value  to  land,  to  judiciously  partitioned 
territory.  The  public  weal  requires  the  encouragement  of 
both.  A  very  inconsiderable  value  arose  from  the  sparse, 
thin  settlement  of  the  American  aboriginals,  of  whom 
there  are  not  fifty  thousand  souls  on  this  side  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  Protestant  Europeans  have  generally  bought 
the  native  right  of  soil,  as  far  as  they  have  settled,  and 
paid  the  value  ten-fold,  and  are  daily  increasing  the  value 
of  the  remaining  Indian  territory  a  thousand-fold ;  and  in 
this  manner  we  are  a  constant  increasing  revenue  to  the 
sachems  and  original  lords  of  the  soil.  How  much  must 
the  value  of  lands  reserved  to  the  natives  of  North  and 
South  America  be  increased  to  remaining  Indians  by  the 
inhabitation  of  two  or  three  hundred  millions  of  Euro- 
peans? 

Heaven  hath  provided  this  country,  not  indeed  derelict, 
but  only  partially  settled,  and  consequently  open  for  the 
reception  of  a  new  enlargement  of  Japheth.  Europe  was 
settled  by  Japheth  ;  America  is  settling  from  Europe  :  and 
perhaps  this  second  enlargement  bids  fair  to  surpass  the 
first;  for  we  are  to  consider  all  the  European  settlements 
of  America  collectively  as  springing  from  and  transfused 
with  the  blood  of  Japheth.  Already  for  ages  has  Europe 
arrived  to  a  plenary,  if  not  declining,  population  of  one 
hundred  millions;  in  two  or  three  hundred  years  this 
second  enlargement  may  cover  America  with  three  times 
that  number,  if  the  present  ratio  of  increase  continues  with 


meridian.  The  American  Republic  was  bom  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth. The  lineage  is  clear;  and  this  reference  by  President  Stiles  to 
Harrington's  schemes  is  one  of  many  beautiful  illustrations  of  the  fact, 
which  come  up  to  the  surface  along  the  current  of  literature,  and  remain, 
as  buoys,  to  mark  the  channel  down  which  have  flowed  the  great  hopes 
of  former  days  to  become  the  verities  of  our  own.  —  Ed. 


406  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783 


the  enterprising  spirit  of  Americans  for  colonization  and 
removing  out  into  the  wilderness  and  settling  new  coun- 
tries, and  if  Spain  and  Portugal  should  adopt  that  wise 
regulation  respecting  the  connection  of  the  sexes  which 
would  give  a  spring  to  population  within  the  tropics  equal 
to  that  without.  There  may  now  be  three  or  four  millions 
of  whites,  or  Europeans,  in  Xorth  and  South  America,  of 
which  one-half  are  in  rapid  increase,  and  the  rest  scarcely- 
keeping  their  number  good  without  supplies  from  the 
parent  states.  The  number  of  French,  Spaniards,  Dutch, 
and  Portuguese  may  be  one  million  souls  in  all  Amer- 
ica, although  they  have  transfused  their  blood  into  twice 
that  number  of  Indians.  The  United  States  may  be  two 
million  souls,  whites,  which  have  been  an  increase  upon 
perhaps  fewer  than  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  families 
from  Europe.  Can  we  contemplate  their  present,  and 
anticipate  their  future  increase,  and  not  be  struck  with 
astonishment  to  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prophecy  of  Noah  ?  May  we  not  see  that  we 
are  the  object  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  in  view  four 
thousand  years  ago,  when  he  inspired  the  venerable  patri- 
arch with  the  visions  respecting  his  posterity?  How 
wonderful  the  accomplishments  in  distant  and  discon- 
nected ages !  While  the  principal  increase  was  first  in 
Europe,  westward  from  Scythia,  the  residence  of  the 
family  of  Japheth,  a  branch  of  the  original  enlargement, 
extending  eastward  into  Asia,  and  spreading  round  to  the 
southward  of  the  Caspian,  became  the  ancient  kingdoms 
of  Media  and  Persia :  ^  and  thus  he  dwelt  in  the  tents 
of  Shem.  Hence  the  singular  and  almost  identical  affin- 
ity between  the  Persic  and  Teutonic  languages,  through 
all  ages,  to  this  day.  And  now  the  other  part  of  the 
prophecy  is  fulfilling  in  a   new  enlargement,  not  in  the 

a  Jos.  Aut.,  lib.  i.  c.  6. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   407 

tents  of  Shcm,  but  in  a  country  where  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant,  at  least  unto  tribute. 

I  rather  consider  the  American  Indians  as  Canaanites 
of  the  expulsion  of  Joshua,^  some  of  which,  in  Phoenician 
ships,  coasted  the  Mediterranean  to  its  mouth,  as  appears 
from  an  inscription  which  they  left  there.  Procopius,  who 
was  born  in  Palestine,  a  master  of  the  Phoenician  and 
other  oriental  languages,  and  the  historiographer  of  the 
great  Belisarius,  tells  us  that  at  Tangier  he  saw  and  read 
an  inscription  upon  two  marble  pillars  there,  in  the  ancient 
Phoenician — not  the  then  modern  Punic  —  letter,  "AYe 
are  they  who  have  fled  from  the  face  of  Joshua  the  robber, 
the  son  of  Xun."  '^  Bochart  and  Selden  conjecture  the 
very  Punic  itself.  Plato,  ^lian,  and  Diodorus  Siculus 
narrate  voyages  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  thirty  days  west 
from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  to  the  island  of  Atlas.  This 
inscription,  examined  by  Procopius,  suggests  that  the 
Canaanites,  in  coasting  along  from  Tangier,  might  soon 
get  into  the  trade  winds  and  be  undesignedly  wafted 
across  the  Atlantic,  land  in  the  tropical  regions,  and  com- 
mence the  settlements  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Another 
branch  of  the  Canaanitish  expulsions  might  take  the  reso- 
lution of  the  ten  tribes,  and  travel  north-eastward  to  where 
never  man  dwelt,  become  the  Tchuschi  and  Tungusi  Tar- 
tars about  Kamschatka  and  Tscukotskoinoss,  in  the  north- 
east of  Asia;  thence,  by  water,  passing  over  from  island  to 
island  through  the  Xorthern  Archipelago,  to  America, 
became  the  scattered  Sachemdoms  of  these  northern  re- 
gions.    It  is  now  known  that  Asia  is  separated  by  water 

a  Ibi  ex  albis  lapidibus  constant  colum>'^je  du^  prope  ma^um  fontem  erectae, 
Phoenicios  habentes  cbaracteres  insculptos,  qui  Pboecicum  lingua  sic  sonant :  >'03 
11  suMcs  QUI  FUGERUXT  A  FACIE  JoSHU^  prj;do>'is  filii  Naue. — Evagr. 
Hist.  ecc.  1.  4,  c.  18.    Procop.  Vandalic,  1.  8. 

1  See  Gookin's  Historical  Collections  of  the  Indians,  in  Massachusetts 
Historical  Collections,  i.  144.  —  Ed. 


408  DR.    stiles' S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

from  America,  as  certainly  appears  from  the  Baron  Dul- 
feldt's  voyage  round  the  north  of  Europe  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  A.  D.  1769.  Amidst  all  the  variety  of  national 
dialects,  there  reigns  a  similitude  in  their  language,  as 
there  is  also  in  complexion  and  beardless  features,  from 
Greenland  to  Del  Fuego,  and  from  the  Antilles  to  Otaheite, 
which  show  them  to  be  one  people. 

A  few  scattered  accounts,  collected  and  combined  to- 
gether, may  lead  us  to  two  certain  conclusions :  ^  1.  That 
all  the  American  Indians  are  one  kind  of  people ;  2.  That 
they  are  the  same  as  the  people  in  the  northeast  of  Asia. 

An  Asiatic  territory,  three  thousand  miles  long  and 
fifteen  hundred  wide,  above  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude, 
to  the  hyperborean  ocean,  contains  only  one  million  of 
souls,  settled  as  our  Indians,  as  appears  from  the  numera- 
tions and  estimates  collected  by  M.  Miiller  and  other 
Russian  academicians  in  1769.  The  Koreki,  Jakuhti,  and 
Tungusij,  living  on  the  eastern  part  of  this  territory  next 
to  America,  are  naturally  almost  beardless,  like  the  Samoi- 
eds  in  Siberia,  the  Ostiacs  and  Calmucks,  as  well  as  the 
American  Indians, —  all  these  having  also  the  same  custom 
of  plucking  out  the  few  hairs  of  very  thin  beards.  They 
have  more  similar  usages,  and  fewer  dissimilar  ones,  than 
the  Arabians  of  the  Koreish  tribe  and  Jews  who  sprang 
from  Abraham,  or  than  those  that  subsist  among  European 
nations  who  sprang  from  one  ancestor,  or  those  Asiatic 
nations  which  sprang  from  Shem.  The  portrait-painter, 
Mr.  Smibert,^  who  accompanied  Dr.  Berkeley,  then  Dean 

1  The  learned  and  judicious  paper,  by  Samuel  Foster  Haven,  Esq.,  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institute  in 
1856,  gives  an  elaborate  view  of  the  "  General  Opinions  respecting  the  Origin 
of  Population  in  the  New  World,"  with  a  critical  account  of  the  literature 
upon  this  subject.  — Ed. 

2  Smibert's  picture  of  Dr.  Berkeley  and  his  family  is  in  possession  of 
Yale  College.  — Ed. 

% 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   409 

of  Derry,  and  afterward  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  from  Italy  to 
America  in  1728,  was  employed  by  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  wiiile  at  Florence,  to  paint  two  or  three  Siberian 
Tartars,  presented  to  the  duke  by  the  Czar  of  Russia. 
This  Mr.  Smibert,  upon  his  landing  at  Narraganset  Bay 
with  Dr.  Berkeley,  instantly  recognized  the  Indians  here 
to  be  the  same  people  as  the  Siberian  Tartars  w^hose 
pictures  he  had  taken.  Moravian  Indians  from  Greenland 
and  South  America  have  met  those  in  our  latitude  at 
Bethlehem,^  and  have  been  clearly  perceived  to  be  the 
same  people.  The  Karaschatdale  Tartars  have  been  car- 
ried over  from  Asia  to  America,  and  compared  with  our 
Indians,  and  found  to  be  the  same  people.  These  Asiatic 
Tartars,  from  whom  the  American  aboriginals  derived, 
are  distinct  from  and  far  less  numerous  than  the  Mon- 
gul  and  other  Tartars  which  for  ages,  under  Tamerlane 
and  other  chieftains,  have  deluged  and  overrun  the  south- 
ern ancient  Asiatic  empires.  Attending  to  the  rational 
and  just  deductions  from  these  and  other  disconnected 
data^  combined  together,  we  may  perceive  that  all  the 

1  Moravian  settlement  of  Pennsylvania.  —  Ed. 

2  By  his  foreign  correspondence  Dr.  Stiles  was  assiduous  in  learning  the 
progress  of  discovery  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America.  This  collection 
of  data,  the  bases  of  his  "  certain"  deduction,  well  illustrate  his  intellectual 
life,  his  untiring  acquisitiveness, —  for  he  gathered  the  facts  more  from 
observation  than  from  books,  —  his  system ization,  and  his  penetration  and 
judgment.  His  theory  is  adopted  by  Dr.  Charles  Pickering,  of  the  United 
States  Exploring  Expedition,  who  says :  "  I  confess  it  was  only  on  actually 
visiting  the  North  Pacific  that  the  whole  matter  seemed  open  to  my  view." 
He  describes  the  islands  of  the  Ale^utian  group,  the  countless  inlets  and 
channels  connecting  the  two  continents,  and  says,  "  Where,  then,  shall  Asia 
end  and  America  begin? "—  "  Races  of  Man,"  13ohn's  Ed.,  1854,  p.  296. 

"The  invention  all  admired,  and  each  how  he 
To  be  th'  inventor  missed  ;  so  easy  it  seemed, 
Once  found,  which  yet,  unfound,  most  would  have  thought 
Impossible.'"  — MiLTOK.  — Ed. 

35 


410  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

Americans  are  one  people  —  that  they  came  hither  cer- 
tainly from  the  northeast  of  Asia ;  probably,  also,  from  the 
Mediterranean ;  and  if  so,  that  they  are  Canaanites,  though 
arriving  hither  by  different  routes.  The  ocean  current 
from  the  north  of  Asia  might  waft  the  beardless  Samoieds 
or  Tchuschi  from  the  mouth  of  Jenesea  or  the  Oby,  around 
Nova  Zembla  to  Greenland,  and  thence  to  Labrador,  many 
ages  after  the  refugees  from  Joshua  might  have  colo- 
nized the  tropical  regions.  Thus  Providence  might  have 
ordered  three  divisions  of  the  same  4)eople  from  different 
parts  of  the  world,  and  perhaps  in  very  distant  ages,  to 
meet  together  on  this  continent,  or  "  our  island,"  as  the 
Six  Nations  call  it,  to  settle  different  parts  of  it,  many 
ages  before  the  present  accession  of  Japheth,  or  the  former 
visitation  of  Madoc,  1001,  or  the  certain  colonization  from 
Norway,  A.  D.  1001,  as  well  as  the  certain  Christianizing 
of  Greenland  in  the  ninth  century,  not  to  mention  the  visit 
of  still  greater  antiquity  by  the  Phoenicians,  who  charged 
the  Dighton^  rock,  and  other  rocks  in  Narraganset  Bay, 
with  Punic  inscriptions,  remaining  to  this  day ;  —  which 
last  I  myself  have  repeatedly  seen  and  taken  off  at  large, 
as  did  Professor  Sewall.  He  has  lately  transmitted  a  copy 
of  this  inscription  to  M.  Gebelin,  of  the  Parisian  Academy 
of  Sciences,  who,  comparing  them  with  the  Punic  paleog- 
raphy, judges  them  Punic,  and  has  interpreted  them  as 
denoting  that  the  ancient  Carthaginians  once  visited  these 
distant  regions. 

Indians  are  numerous  in  the  tropical  regions;   not  so 


1  Dr.  Stiles  resided  at  Dighton  for  a  while,  after  the  war  began,  Newport 
being  open  to  the  enemy  from  the  sea.  The  result  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft's 
more  careful  study  of  the  Dighton  inscription  is,  that  it  is  simply  of  Indian 
origin.  The  Mananas  "  inscription,"  coast  of  Maine,  has  excited  a  like 
interest.  From  a  personal  examination  of  it,  in  August,  1855,  I  believe 
that  the  Hand  which  made  the  rock  made  the  "  inscription."— Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       411 

elsewhere.  Baron  la  Hontan,  the  last  century,  and  Mr. 
Carver  so  lately  as  1776  and  1777,  travelled  northwest 
beyond  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  From  their  obser- 
vations it  appears  that  the  ratio  of  Indian  population,  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  continent,  is  similar  to  that  on  this 
side  of  the  Mississippi.  By  an  accurate  numeration  made 
in  1766,  and  returned  into  the  plantation  office  in  London, 
it  appeared  that  there  were  not  forty  thousand  souls,  In- 
dians, from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  and  from 
Florida  to  the  Pole.  According  to  Mr.  Carver,  there  are 
about  thirty,^  and  certainly  not  forty,  Indian  tribes  west 
of  the  Senecas  and  Six  Nation  confederacy,  and  from  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  northward  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and 
from  Niagara  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  The  chiefs  of 
all  these  speak  the  Chippeway  language.  And  perhaps  all 
the  remaining  territory  north  of  New  Spain,  and  even  on 
this  side  the  northern  tropic,  and  northwestward  to  Asia, 
will  not  exhibit  five  times  that  number,  at  highest. 

Partly  by  actual  numeration,  and  partly  by  estimate,  the 
Indians  in  the  Spanish  dominions  in  America  are  consid- 
ered as  a  million  souls  in  New  Spain,  and  a  million  and 
one-half  in  Peru;  or  two  or  three  million  souls  in  the 
whole.  And  perhaps  this  would  fully  comprehend  those 
of  Paraguay  and  the  Portuguese  provinces.  In  my  opin- 
ion, great  defalcation  must  be  made  from  these  numbers. 
The  aboriginals  have  been  injudiciously  estimated  at 
twenty  millions ;  but  I  believe  they  never  exceeded  two 
or  three  million  souls  in  all  North  and  South  America, 
since  the  days  of  Columbus. 

The  European  population  so  surpasses  them  already, 
that,  of  whatever  origin,  they  will  eventually  be,  as  the 
most  of  them  have  already  become,  servants  unto  Japheth. 
Six  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  Indians  pay  tribute  in 

a  Carver's  Trav.,  p.  415, 


412  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,    1783. 

Peru.  We  are  increasing  with  great  rapidity;  and  the 
Indians,  as  well  as  the  million  Africans  in  America,  are 
decreasing  as  rapidly.  Both  left  to  themselves,  in  this 
way  diminishing,  may  gradually  vanish  ;^  and  thus  an 
unrighteous  slavery  may  at  length,  in  God's  good  provi- 
dence, be  abolished,  and  cease  in  this  land  of  liberty. 

But,  to  return  :  The  population  of  this  land  will  jDrobably 
become  very  great,  and  Japheth  become  more  numerous 
millions  in  America  than  in  Europe  and  Asia;  and  the 
two  or  three  millions  of  the  United  States  may  equal  the 
population  of  the  oriental  empires,  which  far  surpasses 
that  of  Europe.  There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
English  increase  will  far  surpass  others,  and  that  the  diffu- 
sion of  the  United  States  will  ultimately  produce  the  gen- 
eral population  of  America.  The  northern  provinces  of 
China  spread  for  ages,  and  at  length  deluged  the  southern 
with  a  very  numerous  and  accumulated  population.  "  In 
the  multitude  of  people  is  the  king's  honor."* 

But  a  multitude  of  people,  even  the  two  hundred  mil- 
lion^ of  the  Chinese  empire,  cannot  subsist  without  civil 
government.  All  the  forms  of  civil  polity  have  been  tried 
by  mankind,  except  one,  and  that  seems  to  have  been 
reserved  in  Providence  to  be  realized  in  America.     Most 

a  Prov.  xiv.  28. 

1  The  cotton-gin,  invented  about  1793-4,  by  Eli  Whitney,  a  native  of 
"Westborough,  Massacliusetts,  December  8, 1765,  turned  "  the  whole  course 
of  industry  in  the  southern  section  of  the  Union,"  and  the  fate  of  "  the 
million  Africans,"  and  their  descendants  of  mingled  blood.  The  total 
number  of  Indians  in  the  United  States  territory  was  estimated,  in  1853, 
at  400,704.  The  total  number  of  slaves,  in  18.54,  was  3,201,313.  The 
shameless  ingratitude  and  wrong  to  Whitney  are  narrated  in  "  Siiliman's 
Journal,"  January,  1832.  —  Ed. 

2  The  reader  will  readily  excuse  the  omission  of  the  author's  long  note 
on  Chinese  statistics,  cited  from  Hatton's  Geography,  and  Du  Halde,  v., 
p.  209.  — Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.       413 

of  the  states,  of  all  ages,  in  their  originals,  both  as  to 
policy  and  property,  have  been  founded  in  rapacity,  usur- 
pation, and  injustice;  so  that  in  the  contests  recorded  in 
history,  the  public  right  is  a  dubious  question,  —  it  being 
rather  certain  that  it  belongs  to  neither  of  the  contending 
parties,  —  the  military  history  of  all  nations  being  but  a 
description  of  the  wars  and  invasions  of  the  mutual  rob- 
bers and  devastators  of  the  human  race.  The  invasion  of 
the  lawless  Macedonian,  who  effected  the  dissolution  of  the 
Medo-Persian  empire ;  the  wide-spread  Roman  conquests ; 
the  inundation  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals;  the  descents 
of  the  Tartars  on  China;  the  triumphs  of  Tamerlane, 
Ulugh-beg,  and  Aurengzebe ;  and  the  wide-spread  domi- 
nation of  the  impostor  of  Mecca,  with  his  successors,  the 
Caliphs  and  Mamelukes,  down  to  Kouli-Kan,  who  de- 
throned his  j^rince,  and  plundered  India  of  two  hundred 
millions  sterling;  —  these,  I  say,  with  the  new  distribution 
of  property  and  new  erected  policies,  were  all  founded  in 
unrighteousness  and  tyrannical  usurpation.  The  real  in- 
terest of  mankind,  and  the  public  good,  has  been  generally 
overlooked.  It  has  really  been  very  indifferent  to  the 
great  cause  of  right  and  liberty  which  of  the  belligerent 
powers  prevailed,  —  a  Tangrolij^ix  or  a  Mahomet,  an 
Augustus  or  an  Antony,  a  Scipio  or  a  Hannibal,  a 
Brennus  or  an  Antiochus,  —  tyranny  being  the  sure  por- 
tion of  the  plebeians,  be  the  victory  as  it  should  happen. 
These  things  have  led  some  very  enlightened  as  w^ell  as 
serious  minds  to  a  fixed  conclusion  and  judgment  against 
the  right  and  legality  of  all  wars.  In  the  simplicity  of  my 
judgment,  I  have  for  years  been  of  this  opinion,  except  as 
to  the  offensive  wars  of  Israel  and  defensive  war  of 
America.  War,  in  some  instances,  especially  defensive, 
has  been  authorized  by  Heaven.     The  blessing  given  by 

Melchisedec  to  Abraham,  upon  his  return  from  the  slaugh- 

35* 


414  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783 


ter  of  Chelderlaoraer  and  the  kings  of  the  East,  justified 
that  holy  patriarch.  The  war  with  Amelek,  and  the  extir- 
pation of  the  Canaanites  by  Joshua,  were  of  God.  The 
location  of  the  respective  territories  to  the  first  nations, 
was  so  of  God  as  to  give  them  a  divine  right  defensively 
to  resist  the  Nimrods  and  Ninuses,  the  first  invading  ty- 
rants of  the  ancient  ages.  The  originally  free  and  glori- 
ous republics  of  Greece  had  a  right  from  God  to  withstand 
the  haughty  claims  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  which  they 
successfully  resisted  for  ages,  till  the  Roman  power  arose 
behind  them,  and  at  length  prostrated  their  liberties. 

But  after  the  spirit  of  conquest  had  changed  the  first 
governments,  all  the  succeeding  ones  have,  in  general, 
proved  one  continued  series  of  injustice,  which  has  reigned 
in  all  countries  for  almost  four  thousand  years.  These 
have  so  changed  property,  laws,  rights,  and  liberties,  that 
it  has  become  impossible  for  the  most  sagacious  civilians 
to  decide  whose  is  the  abstract  political  right  in  national 
controversies ;  rather,  we  know  that  none  of  them  have 
any  right.  All  original  right  is  confounded  and  lost.  We 
can  only  say  that  there  still  remains  in  the  body  of  the 
people  at  large  —  the  body  of  mankind,  of  any  and  every 
generation  —  a  power,  with  which  they  are  invested  by  the 
Author  of  their  being,  to  wrest  government  out  of  the 
hands  of  reigning  tyrants,  and  originate  new  policies, 
adapted  to  the  conservation  of  liberty,  and  promoting  the 
public  welfare.  But  what  is  the  happiest  form  of  civil 
government,  is  the  great  question.  Almost  all  the  polities 
may  be  reduced  to  hereditary  dominion,  in  either  a  mon- 
archy or  aristocracy,  and  these  supported  by  a  standing 
army.  The  Roman  and  Venetian  senates  were  but  a 
hereditary  aristocracy,  with  an  elective  head.  The  sena- 
torial succession  is  preserved  independent  of  the  people. 
True  liberty  is  preserved  in  the  Belgic  and  Hselvetic  re- 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES,  415 

publics,  and  among  the  nobles  in  the  elective  monarchy  of 
Poland.  For  the  rest  of  the  world,  the  civil  dominion, 
though  often  wisely  administered,  is  so  modelled  as  to  be 
beyond  the  control  of  those  for  whose  end  God  instituted 
government.  But  a  democratical  polity  for  millions,  stand- 
ing upon  the  broad  basis  of  the  people  at  large,  amply 
charged  with  property,  has  not  hitherto  been  exhibited. 

Republics  are  democratical,  aristocratical,  or  monarchical. 
Each  of  these  forms  admits  of  modifications,  both  as  to 
hereditation  and  powers,  from  absolute  government  up  to 
perfect  liberty.  Monarchy  might  be  so  limited,  one  would 
think,  as  to  be  a  happy  form,  especially  if  elective ;  but 
both  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  when  they  become  hered- 
itary, terminate  in  the  prostration  of  liberty.  The  greater 
part  of  the  governments  on  earth  may  be  termed  monarch- 
ical aristocracies,  or  hereditary  dominions  independent 
of  the  people.  The  nobles  and  nabobs,  being  hereditary, 
will  at  first  have  great  power ;  but  the  royal  factions  have 
not  failed  to  intrigue  this  away  from  the  nobles  to  the 
prince :  the  assembly  of  even  hereditary  nobles  then  be- 
come ciphers  and  nullities  in  dominion.  The  once  glori- 
ous Cortes  of  Spain  experienced  this  loss  of  power.  It  is 
next  to  an  impossibility  to  tame  a  monarch  ;  and  few  have 
ruled  without  ferocity.  Scarcely  shall  we  find  in  royal 
dynasties,  in  long  line  of  princes,  a  few  singularly  good 
sovereigns  —  a  few  Cyruses,  Antonini,  Alfreds,  Boroihmeses. 
Indeed,  if  we  look  over  the  present  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
we  behold  with  pleasure  two  young  princes,  the  em- 
peror,^ and  the  monarch  of  France,^  who  seem  to  be  raised 
up  in  Providence  to  make  their  people  and  mankind  happy. 


1  Seep.  454,  note  1.  — Ed. 

2  Louis  XTL,  for  the  iniquities  of  his  fathers,  died  upon  the  scaffold, 
January  21,  1793,  aged  thirty-eight.    See  p.  445,  note  1. — Ed. 


416  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

A  Ganganelli  in  the  pontifical  throne  was  a  i)hoenix  of 
ages,  shone  for  his  moment,  and  scarcely  to  be  found  again 
in  the  catalogue  of  a  Platina.^  We  see  enterprising  lit- 
erary and  heroic  talents  in  a  Frederick  III.,  and  wisdom 
in  a  Poniatowski.  I  add  no  more.  But  when  we  con- 
template the  other  European  and  Asiatic  potentates,  and 
especially  the  sovereigns  of  Delhi,  Ispahaun,  and  Constan- 
tinople, one  cannot  but  pity  mankind  whose  lot  is  to  be 
governed  by  despots  of  small  abilities,  immersed  and  riot- 
ing in  the  splendor  of  a  luxurious  effeminacy.  Nor  could 
government  proceed  were  not  the  errors  and  desultory 
blunders  of  royalty  frequently  corrected  by  the  circum- 
spection of  a  Colao,  a  few  sensible  characters,  venerable 
for  wisdom,  called  up  among  the  stated  councillors  of 
majesty. 

Lord  Bacon  said  that  monarchy  had  a  platform  in  na- 
ture ;  and,  in  truth,  monarchical  ideas  reign  through  the 
universe.  A  monarchy  conducted  with  infinite  wisdom 
and  infinite  benevolence  is  the  most  perfect  of  all  possible 
governments.  The  Most  High  hath  delegated  power  and 
authority  to  subordinate  monarchies,  or  sole  ruling  powers, 
in  limited  districts,  throughout  the  celestial  hierarchy,  and 
through  the  immensity  of  the  intellectual  world ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  he  hath  delegated  and  imparted  to  them  wis- 
dom and  goodness  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  dominion  ; 
and  thence  the  government  is,  as  it  ought  to  be,  absolute. 
But  in  a  world  or  region  of  the  universe  where  God  has 
imparted  to  none  either  this  superior  power  or  adequate 
wisdom  beyond  what  falls  to  the  common  share  of  human- 
ity, it  is  absurd  to  look  for  such  qualities  in  one  man  —  not 
even  in  the  man  Moses,  who  shared  the  government  of 
Israel  with  the  senate  of  seventy.  Therefore  there  is 
no  foundation  for  monarchical  government  from  supposed 

iSeep.  406,  note  1.— Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   417 

hereditary  superiority  in  knowledge.  If  it  be  said  that 
monarchs  always  have  a  council  of  state,  consisting  of  the 
wisest  personages,  of  whose  wisdom  they  avail  themselves 
in  the  government  of  empires,  —  not  to  observe  that  this 
is  a  concession  indicating  a  deficiency  of  knowledge  in 
princes,  —  it  may  be  asked.  Why  not,  then,  consign  and 
repose  government  into  the  hands  of  the  national  council, 
where  always  resides  the  superiority  of  wisdom?  The 
supposed  advantage  of  having  one  public  head  for  all  to 
look  up  to,  and  to  concentre  the  attention,  obedience,  and 
affection  of  subjects,  and  to  consolidate  the  empire,  will 
not  counterbalance  the  evils  of  arbitrary  despotism  and 
the  usual  want  of  wisdom  in  the  sovereigns  and  potentates 
of  the  earth.  For  the  hereditary  successions  in  the  dynas- 
ties of  kings,  in  the  effeminate  families  of  the  great,  seem 
to  be  marked  and  accursed  by  Providence  with  deficient 
wisdom.  And  where  is  the  wisdom  of  consigning  govern- 
ment into  such  hands?  Why  not  much  better  —  since  we 
for  once  have  our  option  or  choice  —  to  commit  the  direc- 
tion of  the  republic  to  a  Wittena-gemot,  or  an  aristocrat- 
ical  council  of  wise  men  ?  Should  we  call  forth  and  dig- 
nify some  family,  either  from  foreign  nations  or  from 
among  ourselves,  and  create  a  monarch,  whether  a  hered- 
itary prince  or  protector  for  life,  and  seat  him  in  supremacy 
at  the  head  of  Congi-ess,  soon,  with  insidious  dexterity, 
would  he  intrigue,  and  secure  a  venal  majority  even  of 
new  and  annual  members,  and,  by  diffusing  a  complicated 
and  variously  modified  influence,  pursue  an  accretion  of 
power  till  he  became  absolute. 

The  celebrated  historian  Mrs.  Catharine  Macaulay,^  that 

1  The  ei^ht  volumes  of  Mrs.  Macaulay's  "  History  of  England  from  the 
Accession  of  James  I.  to  that  of  the  Brunswick  Line,"  appeared  succes- 
sively during  the  years  1763  to  1783.  The  high  republican  tone  and  noble 
zeal  for  liberty  which  distinguished  this  work,  and  the  time  of  its  publica- 


418  DR.    stiles' S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

ornament  of  the  republic  of  letters,  and  the  female  Livy 
of  the  age,  observes :  "  The  man  who  holds  supreme  power 
for  life  will  have  a  great  number  of  friends  and  adherents, 
who  are  attached  by  interest  to  his  interest,  and  who  will 
wish  for  continuance  of  power  in  the  same  family.  This 
creates  the  worst  of  factions,  a  government  faction,  in  the 
state.  The  desire  of  securing  to  ourselves  a  particular 
unshared  privilege  is  the  rankest  vice  which  infests  human- 
ity ;  and  a  protector  for  life,  instead  of  devoting  his  time 
and  understanding  to  the  great  cares  of  government,  will 
be  scheming  and  plotting  to  secure  the  power,  after  his 
death,  to  his  children,  if  he  has  any,  if  not,  to  the  nearest 
of  his  kin.  This  principle  in  government  has  been  pro- 
ductive of  such  bloodshed  and  oppression  that  it  has  in- 
clined politicians  to  give  preference  to  hereditary  rather 
than  elective  monarchies ;  and,  as  the  lesser  evil,  to  con- 
sign the  government  of  society  to  the  increasing  and  at 
length  unlimited  sway  of  one  family,  whether  the  individ- 
uals of  it  should  be  idiots  or  madmen.  It  is  an  uncontro- 
verted  fact,  that  supreme  power  never  can  continue  long 
in  one  family  without  becoming  unlimited."  * 

We  stand  a  better  chance  with  aristocracy,  whether  he- 
reditary or  elective,  than  with  monarchy.  An  unsystem- 
atical  democracy  and  an  absolute  monarchy  are  equally 
detestable,  equally  a  magormissahib,  the  terror  to  all 
around  them.  An  elective  aristocracy  is  preferable  for 
America,  as  it  is  rather   to   be  a  council  of  nations^  — 

a  Mrs.  Macaulay's  letter  to  the  author,  1771. 

tlon,  coincident  with  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  rendered  the  author  a 
gi-eat  favorite  with  the  American  patriots  and  scholars.  Dr.  Stiles's  lan- 
j^uatre  was  not  an  extravajjant  expression  of  her  popularity  in  Enjrland  or 
America.  She  visited  Washinj^ton  in  1785.  He  was  one  of  her  corre- 
spondents. After  a  remarkable  and  somewhat  eccentric  life,  she  died  in 
1791.  — Ed. 
1  See  p.  458,  and  note  1.  —  Ed. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES.       419 

agreeable  to  the  humane,  liberal,  and  grand  ideas  of  Henry 
lY.  and  the  patriot  Sully  —  than  a  body  in  which  resides 
authoritative  sovereignty ;  for  there  is  no  real  cession  of 
dominion,  no  surrender  or  transfer  of  sovereignty  to  the 
national  council,  as  each  state  in  the  confederacy  is  an 
independent  sovereignty.^ 

In  justice  to  human  society  it  may  perhaps  be  said  of 
almost  all  the  polities  and  civil  institutions  in  the  world, 
however  imperfect,  that  they  have  been  founded  in  and 
carried  on  with  very  considerable  wisdom.  They  must 
have  been  generally  well  administered, — I  say  generally, 
—  otherwise  government  could  not  proceed.  This  may  be 
said  even  of  those  governments  which  carry  great  defects 
and  the  seeds  of  self-destruction  and  ruin  in  their  consti- 
tution ;  for  even  an  Ottoman  or  an  Aurengzebe  must 
establish  and  prescribe  to  himself  a  national  constitution, 
a  system  of  general  laws  and  dominion.  But  the  abstract 
rationale  of  perfect  civil  government  remains  still  hidden 
among  the  desiderata  of  politics,  having  hitherto  baffled 
the  investigation  of  the  best  writers  on  government,  the 
ablest  politicians,  and  the  sagest  civilians.  A  well-ordered 
democratical  aristocracy,  standing  upon  the  annual  elec- 
tions of  the  people,  and  revocable  at  pleasure,  is  the  polity 
which  combines  the  United  States ;  and,  from  the  nature 
of  man  and  the  comparison  of  ages,  I  believe  it  will  ap- 
prove itself  the  most  equitable,  liberal,  and  perfect. 

With  the  people,  especially  a  people  seized  of  prop- 
erty, resides  the  aggregate  of  original  power.  They  can- 
not, however,  assemble  from  the  territory  of  an  empire, 
and  must,  therefore,  if  they  have  any  share  in  government, 
represent  themselves  by  delegation.  This  constitutes  one 
order  in  legislature  and  sovereignty.  It  is  a  question 
whether  there  should  be  any  other ;  to  resolve  w^hich,  it 

1  See  p.  358,  note  1.  —Ed. 


420  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

may  be  considered  that  each  of  these  delegates,  or  repre- 
sentatives, will  be  faithful  conservators  of  local  interests, 
but  have  no  interest  in  attending  extensively  to  the  pub- 
lic, further  than  where  all  particular  local  interests  are 
affected  in  common  with  that  which  one  delegate  repre- 
sents in  particular. 

It  should  seem,  then,  that  the  nature  of  society  dictates 
another,  a  higher  branch,  whose  superiority  arises  from  its 
being  the  interested  and  natural  conservator  of  the  uni- 
versal interest.  This  will  be  a  senatorial  order,  standing, 
not  on  local,  but  a  general  election  of  the  wiiole  body  of 
the  people.  Let  a  bill,  or  law,  be  read,  in  the  one  branch 
or  the  other,  every  one  instantly  thinks  how  it  will  affect 
his  constituents.  If  his  constituents  are  those  of  one 
small  district  only,  they  will  be  his  first  care;  if  the  people 
at  large,  their  general  or  universal  interest  will  be  his  first 
care,  the  first  object  of  his  faithful  attention.  If  a  senator, 
as  in  Delaware,  stands  on  the  election  of  only  the  same 
district  as  a  deputy,  the  Upper  House  is  only  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  lower ;  if  on  the  election  of  several  counties 
combined,  as  in  Virginia,  each  member  of  the  Upper  House 
stands  and  feels  himself  charged  with  a  greater  and  more 
extensive  care  than  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  : 
not  but  that  it  is  the  duty  of  each  deputy  to  attend  to  the 
general  interest.  Georgia,  Pennsylvania,^  and  Jersey,  have 
each  a  Senate  or  Legislature  of  one  order  only;  for 
although  in  Jersey  it  seemeth  otherwise,  yet  that  interest 
which  will  determine  a  vote  in  one,  will  determine  it  in 
both  Houses.  The  same  is  true  of  the  two  Carolinas. 
*  The    constitutions   of   Maryland    and   New   York   are 

1  The  single  lejrislature  was  a  favorite  idea  with  Dr.  Franklin,  and  it  is 
said  that  the  high  authority  of  his  opinions  in  France  aided  its  adoption 
there;  and  from  the  want  of  the  Senate,  or  Upper  House,  as  a  great 
balance-wheel,  came  the  hoiTors  of  the  French  Revolution.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   421 

founded  in  higher  wisdom.  The  polity  of  Massachusetts 
is  excellent,  and  truly  grand ;  it  retains,  indeed,  some  of 
the  shadows  of  royalty,  which  may  give  dignity,  but  never 
operate  an  essential  mischief  in  the  hands  of  a  chief  magis- 
trate who  is  annually  elected  by  the  people  at  large.  But 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  have  originally  realized  the 
most  perfect  i^olity  as  to  a  legislature.  Any  emendations 
and  improvements  may  be  made  by  the  Assembly,  with 
respect  to  the  establishment  of  the  law  courts,  and  a  con- 
stitutional privy  council,  which  in  all  future  time  will  be 
necessary  to  attend  the  chief  magistrate  in  the  ordinary 
civil  administration.  These  things  are  remedied  in  Yir- 
ginia,  whose  constitution  seems  to  be  imperfect  in  but  one 
thing :  its  twenty-four  senators,  though  elected  from  local 
districts,  should  be  elected  by  the  people  at  large,  —  being 
men  of  such  public  eminence,  and  of  merit  so  illustrious, 
as  to  be  known,  not  to  a  few  only,  but  to  all  the  tribes 
throughout  the  state.  It  establishes  judges  qiiamdiu  se 
bene  gesserint.  It  provides  perfectly  for  legislation  and 
law  courts,  for  the  militia,  and  for  that  continual  admin- 
istration of  government,  in  absence  of  assemblies  and 
while  the  judiciary  tribunals  are  sitting,  which  must  reside 
in  and  be  uninterruptedly  exercised  at  the  head  of  sover- 
eignty in  every  civil  polity. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  find  that  public  liberty  is  effect- 
ually  secured  in  each  and  all  the  policies  of  the  United 
States,  though  somewhat  differently  modelled.  Not  only 
the  polity,  or  exterior  system  of  government,  but  the  laws 
and  interior  regulations  of  each  state,  are  already  excel- 
lent, surpassing  the  institutions  of  Lycurgus  or  Plato;  and 
by  the  annual  appeals  to  the  public  a  power  is  reserved  to 
the  people  to  remedy  any  corruptions  or  errors  in  govern- 
ment. And  even  if  the  people  should  sometimes  err,  yet 
each  assembly  of  the  states,  and  the  body  of  the  people, 

36 


422  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMOX,   1783. 

always  embosom  wisdom  sufficient  to  correct  themselves ; 
so  that  a  political  mischief  cannot  be  durable.  Herein  we 
far  surpass  any  states  on  earth.  We  can  correct  ourselves, 
if  in  the  wrong.  The  Belgic  states,  in  their  federal  ca- 
pacity, are  united  by  a  perfect  system,  constituted  by  that 
great  prince,  William  of  Nassau,  and  the  compatriots  of 
that  age  ;  but  they  left  the  interior  government  of  the  jural 
tribunals,  cities,  and  provinces,  as  despotic  and  arbitrary  as 
they  found  them.  So  the  elective  monarchical  republic 
of  Poland  is  an  excellent  constitution  for  the  nobles,  but 
leaves  despotism  and  tyranny,  the  portion  and  hard  fate 
of  the  plebeians,  beyond  what  is  to  be  found  in  any 
j^art  of  Europe.  Not  so  the  American  states  ;  their  inte- 
rior as  well  as  exterior  civil  and  jural  polities  are  so  nearly 
perfect,  that  tlie  rights  of  individuals,  even  to  numerous 
millions,  are  guarded  and  secured. 

The  crown  and  glory  of  our  confederacy  is  the  amphic- 
tyonic  council  ^  of  the  General  Congress,  standing  on  the 
annual  election  of  the  united  respective  states,  and  revoca- 
ble at  i^leasure.  This  lays  the  foundation  of  a  permanent 
union  in  the  American  Republic,  which  may  at  length 
convince  the  world  that,  of  all  the  policies  to  be  found  on 
earth,  not  excepting  the  very  excellent  one  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  the  most  perfect  one  has  been  invented  and 
realized  in  America. 

If,  in  the  multitude  of  devices  for  improving  and  carry- 
ing our  policy  to  greater  perfection  and  a  more  permanent 
and  efficacious  government,  —  if,  I  say,  some  elevated 
geniuses  should  go  into  the  ideas  of  monarchy,  whether 
hereditary  or  elective,  and  others  think  of  a  partition  of 

1  Five  3'cars  later,  in  1788,  James  Madison,  in  the  "Federalist,"  Nos.  18, 
38,  describes  this  celebrated  institution,  as  "it  bore  a  very  instructive 
analogy  to  the  present  confederation  of  the  American  Union."  See  p. 
458,  note  1.  —  Kd. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       423 

the  United  States  into  three  or  four  separate  independent 
confederacies,  perhaps,  upon  discussing  the  subject  cahnly 
and  thoroughly,  and  finding  that  the  policy  which  will  at 
last  take  place  must  stand  on  plebeian  election,  they  may 
at  length  be  satisfied  that  the  die  is  already  cast,  and  the 
l>olicy  has  taken  its  complexion  for  ages  to  come.  Thus 
the  nine  bowls  engraved  with  the  map  of  dominion  estab- 
lished the  policy  of  the  Chinese  empire  for  near  twenty 
ages.**  The  ancient  division  of  the  empire  subsisted  by 
means  of  these  symbols  of  dominion,  which  passed  in  suc- 
cession to  the  nine  principal  mandarins,  or  supreme  gov- 
ernors under  the  imperial  sovereignty;  and  this  for  the 
long  tract  from  the'ir  first  institution  by  the  Emperor  Yu, 
who  reigned  two  thousand  two  hundred  years  before 
Christ,  to  Chey-lie-vang,  who  was  contemporary  with  the 
great  philosopher  Menzius,  three  hundred  years  before 
Christ.  So  that  symbol  of  union,  the  American  flag,  with 
its  increasing  stripes  and  stars,  may  have  an  equally  com- 
bining efficacy  for  ages.  The  senatorial  constitution  and 
consulate  of  the  Roman  Empire  lasted  from  Tarquin  to 
Caesar.  The  pragmatic  sanction  has  probably  secured  the 
imperial  succession  in  the  House  of  Austria  for  ages.  The 
Medo-Persian  and  Alexandrian  empires,  and  that  of  Tam- 
erlane, who  reigned,  A.  D.  1400,  from  Smyrna  to  the 
Ganges,  were,  for  obvious  reasons,  of  short  and  transitory 
duration;  but  that  of  the  Asspian  endured,  without 
mutation,  through  a  tract  of  one  thousand  three  hundred 
years,  from  Semiramis  to  Sardanapalus.  Nor  was  the 
policy  of  Egypt  overthrown  for  a  longer  period,  from  the 
days  of  Mitzraim  till  the  time  of  Cambyses  and  Amasis. 
Whatever  mutations  may  arise  in  the  United  States, 
perhaps  hereditary  monarchy  and  a  standing  army  will  be 
the  last. 

a  Du  Halde,  Hist.  China. 


424  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMOX,   1783. 

Besides  a  happy  policy  as  to  civil  government,  it  is 
necessary  to  institute  a  system  of  law  and  jurisprudence 
founded  in  justice,  equity,  and  public  right.  The  Ameri- 
can codes  of  law,  and  the  lex  non  scripta^  the  senatus  con- 
sulta^  and  the  common  law,  are  already  advanced  to  great 
perfection,  —  far  less  complicated  and  perplexed  than  the 
jural  systems  of  Europe,  where  reigns  a  mixture  of  Roman, 
Gothic,  Teutonic,  Salic,  Saxon,  Norman,  and  other  local 
or  municipal  law,  controlled  or  innovated  and  confused  by 
subsequent  royal  edicts  and  imperial  institutions,  superin- 
ducing the  same  mutation  as  did  the  imperatorial  decrees 
of  the  CaBsars  upon  the  ancient  jus  civile,  or  Roman  law. 
A  depuration  from  all  these  will  take  place  in  America, 
and  our  communication  with  all  the  world  will  enable  us 
to  bring  home  the  most  excellent  principles  of  law  and 
right  to  be  found  in  every  kingdom  and  empire  on  earth. 
These  being  adopted  here  may  advance  our  systems  of 
jurisprudence  to  the  highest  purity  and  perfection,  —  es- 
pecially if  hereafter  some  Fleta,  Bracton,  Coke,  some  great 
law  genius,  should  arise,  and,  with  vast  erudition,  and  with 
the  learned  sagacity  of  a  Trebouianus,  reduce  and  digest 
all  into  one  great  jural  system. 

But  the  best  laws  will  be  of  no  validity  unless  the  tri- 
bunals be  filled  with  judges  of  independent  sentiment, 
vast  law  knowledge,  and  of  an  integrity  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  corruption.  Even  a  Bacon  should  fall  from  his 
highest  honors  the  moment  he  tastes  the  forbidden  fruit. 
Such  infamy  and  tremendous  punishment  should  be  con- 
nected with  tribunal  bribery,  that  a  judge  should  be 
struck  into  the  horror  of  an  earthquake  at  the  very 
thoughts  of  corruption.  The  legislatures  have  the  insti- 
tution and  revocation  of  law;  and  the  judges  in  their 
decisions  are  to  be  sacredly  governed  by  the  laws  of  the 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       425 

land.^  Most  of  the  states  have  judged  it  necessary,  in 
order  to  keep  the  supreme  law  courts  uninfluenced  and 
uncorrupted  tribunals,  that  the  judges  be  honorably  sup- 
ported, and  be  fixed  in  office  quamcUu  se  bene  gesserint. 

But  I  pass  on  to  another  subject,  in  which  the  welfare  of 
a  community  is  deeply  concerned,  —  I  mean  the  public 
revenues.  National  character  and  national  faith  depend 
on  these.  Every  people,  every  large  community,  is  able  to 
furnish  a  revenue  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  govern- 
ment. But  this  is  a  most  difficult  subject;  and  what  the 
happiest  method  of  raising  it,  is  uncertain.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  however  in  most  kingdoms  and  empires  the 
people  are  taxed  at  the  will  of  the  prince,  yet  in  America 
the  people  tax  themselves,  and  therefore  cannot  tax  them- 
selves beyond  their  abilities.  But  whether  the  power  of 
taxing  be  in  an  absolute  monarchy  a  power  independent 
of  the  people,  or  in  a  body  elected  by  the  people,  one 
great  error  has,  I  apprehend,  entered  into  the  system  of 
revenue  and  finance  in  almost  all  nations,  viz.,  restricting 
the  collection  to  money.  Two  or  three  millions  can  more 
easily  be  raised  in  produce  than  one  million  in  money. 
This,  collected  and  deposited  in  stores  and  magazines, 
would,  by  bills  drawn  upon  these  stores,  answer  all  the 
expenditures  of  war  and  peace.  The  little  imperfect  ex- 
periment lately  made  here  should  not  discourage  us.  In 
one  country  it  has  been  tried  with  success  for  ages,  —  I 
mean  in  China,  the  wisest  empire  the  sun  hath  ever  shined 
upon.  And  here,  if  I  recollect  aright,  not  a  tenth  of  the 
imperial  revenues  hath  been  collected  in  money.  In  rice, 
wheat,  and  millet  only,  are  collected  forty  million  of  sacks, 
—  one  hundred  and  twenty  each,  —  equal  to  eighty  million 


1  In  this  connection  read  Mr.  George  Sumner's  oration,  Boston,  July  4, 
1859,  pp.  10,  51-67.— Ed. 

36* 


426  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

bushels;  in  raw  and  wrought  silk,  one  million  pounds. 
The  rest  is  taken  in  salt,  wines,  cotton,  and  other  fruits  of 
labor  and  industry,  at  a  certain  ratio  per  cent.,  and  depos- 
ited in  stores  over  all  the  enii3ire.  The  perishable  com- 
modities are  immediately  sold,  and  the  mandarins  and 
army  are  paid  by  bills  on  these  magazines.  In  no  part  of 
the  world  are  the  inhabitants  less  oppressed  than  there. 
England  has  eleven  hundred  millions  property,  —  real, 
personal,  and  commercial,  —  and  five  million  souls.  Their 
ordinary  revenue  has  for  many  years  been  ten  or  twelve 
millions ;  and  during  this  war  the  national  expenditures 
have  been  annually  twenty  millions.  A  great  part  is  raised 
by  excise  ;  by  the  land  tax  not  above  a  fifth  or  sixth, 
although  the  annual  rental  of  England  is  really  sixty  mil- 
lions. The  funded  debt  has  arisen  from  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  millions,  A.  D.  1775,  to  two  hundred  and 
thirty  millions,  in  1783,  and  can  nel'er  be  paid.^  It  is  un- 
paralleled in  the  annals  of  empires  that  six  or  seven  mil- 
lions of  i^eople  ever  discharged  so  heavy  a  burden.  The 
Roman  imperial  debt  was  once  —  in  the  times  of  the 
Caesars  —  three  hundred  millions  sterling,  when  the  em- 
pire consisted  of  thirty  million  of  people.  One  emperor 
at  his  accession  wiped  out  twenty  millions,  and  the  Goths 
and  Vandals  settled  the  rest  to  the  ruin  of  thousands. 
May  God  preserve  these  States  from  being  so  involved ! 
Tlie  present  war  being  over,  the  future  increase  of  pop- 
ulation and  property  will  in  time  enable  us  with  conven- 
ience to  discharge  the  heavy  debt  we  have  incurred  in  the 
defence  of  our  rights  and  liberties.  The  United  States 
have  now  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  jiroperty, 
pretty  equally  shared    by  two  or  three    million    people. 

1  The  debt  of  Great  Britain  is  £803,733, 9.')8.  The  population  of  the 
British  Islands  is  27,000,000,  and  of  all  territory  under  British  rule, 
215,000,000.  — Ed. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.        427 

And  our  national  debt  *  is  not  ten  million  sterling,  —  which 
is  to  the  whole  collectively  as  it  would  be  for  one  man 
possessing  an  estate  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  in 
land  and  stock  to  oblige  himself  to  pay  ten  pounds.  The 
interest  only  of  the  British  national  debt,  upon  six  or  seven 
million  people,  is  above  ten  millions  sterling  annually ;  — 
that  is,  greater  than  the  whole  national  debt  of  the  United 
States  upon  half  that  number.  Our  population  will  soon 
overspread  the  vast  territory  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Mississippi,  which  in  two  generations  will  become  a  prop- 
erty superior  to  that  of  Britain.  Thus  posterity  may 
helj)  to  pay  for  the  war^  which  we  have  been  obliged  to 
fight  out  for  them  in  our  day.  It  will  not,  however,  be 
wise  to  consign  to  posterity  so  heavy  a  debt,  lest  they 
should  be  tempted  to  learn,  like  other  nations,  the  practice 
of  public  injustice  and  broken  national  faith. 

Another  object  of  great  attention  in  America  will  be 
commerce.  In  order  to  form  some  ideas  respecting  it  in 
the  United  States,  we  may  take  a  summary  view  of  it 
while  we  were   in    connection  with  Britain,  and  thence 

a  Forty-t-svo  millions  of  dollars  at  the  peace. 

1  The  iiracious  Providence  which  ordained  Washington,  no  less  created 
Hamilton  specially  for  the  nation.  His  genius  brought  order  out  of  chaos, 
and  created  our  permanent  financial  system.  "At  the  time  when  our 
government  was  organized,  we  were  without  funds,  though  not  without 
resources.  To  call  them  into  action,  and  establish  order  in  the  finances, 
"Washington  sought  for  splendid  talents,  for  extensive  inform.ation,  and, 
above  all,  he  sought  for  sterling,  incorruptible  integrity.  All  these  he 
found  in  Hamilton." — Gouverneur  Morris.  "He  smote  the  rock  of  the 
national  resources,  and  abundant  streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth.  He 
touched  the  dead  corpse  of  the  public  credit,  and  it  sprang  upon  its 
feet.  The  fabled  birth  of  Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jove  was  hardly  more 
sudden  or  more  perfect  than  the  financial  system  of  the  United  States  as 
it  burst  forth  from  the  conception  of  Alexander  Hamilton." — Daniel 
Webster.  See  the  admirable  sketch  of  Hamilton  and  his  Works  in  Aili- 
bone's  Dictionary  of  Authors,  —  Ed. 


428  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,   1783. 


Exports  to  the 

Imports  from  the 

Continental  colonies,  26|  mil.  ster. 

131  mil.  ster. 

West  Indies,     .      .    14i    "      " 

35^    "      " 

Total,                    41     "      " 

49"" 

judge  what  it  may  be  after  we  shall  have  recovered  from 
the  shock  of  this  war. 

The  British  merchants  represented  that  they  received 
some  profit  indeed  from  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  as 
well  as  the  West  Indies ;  but  as  for  the  rest  of  this  conti- 
nent, they  were  constant  losers  in  trade.  Mr.  Glover  has 
candidly  disclosed  the  truth ;  and  he  and  other  writers 
enable  us  to  form  some  ideas  of  the  matter.  It  appears, 
from  an  undecennary  account  laid  before  Parliament  in 
1776,  that  the  state  of  commerce  between  England  only 
and  English  America,  for  the  eleven  years  preceding  hostil- 
ities, was  thus : 


{mostly  on  acct.  of  the 
coutinental  colonies. 


A  commerce  of  twenty-six  million  exports,  and  only  thir- 
teen million  imports,  is  self-annihilated  and.  impossible. 
The  returns  from  the  West  Indies  comprehended  a  great 
part  of  the  continental  remittances.  The  American  mer- 
chants, by  a  circuitous  trade  from  this  continent  and  from 
Africa,  remitted  to  London  and  Britain,  by  way  of  the 
West  Indies,  in  bills  of  exchange  drawn  on  sugars,  the 
balance  of  what  they  seem  to  fill  short  in  direct  remit- 
tances on  the  custom-house  books. 

The  whole  American  commerce  monopolized  by  Great 
Britain  must  be  considered  collectively,  and  was  to  Eng- 
land only  in  the  above  account  forty-one  million  exports, 
and  forty-nine  million  imports.  This,  inclusive  of  the 
twelve  per  cent,  charged,  amounted  to  a  real  annual  profit 
of  thirty-two  per  cent,  to  the  English  merchants,  in  actual 
remittances  of  the  year,  besides  a  standing  American  debt, 
it  is  said,  of  six  million,  carrying  interest.     Well  might 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF   THE   UmTED   STATES.       429 

the  British  merchants  sustain  a  loss  in  American  bankrupt- 
cies of  a  million  a  year  —  though  probably  at  an  average 
not  five  or  ten  thousand  —  in  so  lucrative  a  trade.^  An 
idea  of  the  mercantile  debt  may  be  thus  conceived.  There 
is  a  district  within  the  United  States  upon  which  the  state 
of  European  trade  ^  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities 
was  thus;  being  chiefly  carried  on  by  foreign  factorages  — 
a  mode  of  commerce  which  tlie  British  merchants  intended 
to  have  been  universal.  In  the  course  of  a  systematical 
trade  had  at  length  arisen  a  standing  debt  of  a  million 
sterling,  among  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  people.  To 
feed  this  the  British  merchants  sent  over  one  quarter  of  a 
million  sterling  annually ;  for  which,  and  collected  debts, 
they  received  in  actual  remittance  half  a  million  sterling 
within  the  same  year ;  i.  e.,  a  quarter  of  a  million  returned 
half  a  million,  and  fed  or  kept  up  a  debt  of  one  million, 
l^aying  to  Britain  an  annual  lawful  interest ;  the  security 
of  all  which  complicated  system  stood  upon  American 
mortgages.     This  is  true  mercantile  secret  history. 

If  this  specimen  applied  to  all  the  States  —  and,  God  be 
thanked  !  it  does  not  —  it  would  show  not  only  the  great- 
ness and  momentous  importance  of  our  trade  to  Europe, 
but  the  necessity  of  legislative  regulations  in  commerce, 
to  invalidate  future  foreign  mortgages,  and  yet  support 
credit  by  the  enforcement  of  punctual,  speedy,  and  certain 
payments,  whether  with  profit  or  loss.  Without  this  no 
permanent  commerce  can  be  supported.  I  observed  that 
the  above  specimen  may  assist  us.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
every  purpose  to  come  to  great  exactness  in  capital  esti- 
mates. The  total  exterior  commerce  of  Great  Britain 
with  all  the  world  is  about  twelve  millions  annually ;  of 

1  See  pp.  107,  127,  note;  136.  —  Ed. 

2  Boston  and  Newport  were  the  great  marts  of  foreign  trade.  —  Ed.      I 


430 


which  five  millions,  or  near  half,  was  of  American  connec- 
tion, and  four  millions  of  this  directly  American,  as  Mr. 
Glover  asserts ;  and  the  real  profit  of  the  American  trade 
was  become  to  Britain  equal  to  nearly  half  the  benefit  of 
her  total  exterior  commerce  to  the  whole  world.  The 
total  of  British  exports  to  all  the  world,  A.  D.  1704,  was 
only  six  millions  and  a  half  sterling.  The  American  Brit- 
ish trade,  in  its  connections,  returns,  and  profits,  nearly 
equalled  this,  A.  D.  1774.  We  were  better  to  Britain  than 
all  the  world  was  to  her  seventy  years  before.  Despised 
as  our  commerce  was,  it  is  evident  that,  had  the  union 
continued,  our  increasing  millions  would  soon  have  made 
remittances  for  more  than  the  fewer  millions  of  Britain 
could  have  manufactured  for  exportation  ;  for  the  greater 
l^art  of  the  manufiictures  of  every  country  must  be  for 
domestic  consumption.  A  specimen  of  this  we  have  in 
the  woollen  manufacture.  England  grows  eleven  million 
fleeces  a  year,  worth  two  million  sterling,  manufactured 
into  eight  million ;  of  which  six  million  is  of  domestic 
consumption,  and  two  million  only  for  exportation.  When 
it  is  considered  that  a  great  part  of  this  went  to  other 
countries,  how  weak  must  be  the  supposition  that  Britain 
clothed  America ;  while  America,  from  the  beginning,  in 
their  own  domestic  manufactures,  furnished  nine-tenths  of 
their  apparel. 

Our  trade  opens  to  all  the  world.  We  shall  doubtless 
at  first  overtrade  ourselves  everywhere,  and  be  in  danger 
of  incurring  heavy  mortgages,  unless  prevented.^  The 
nations  will  not  at  first  know  how  far  they  may  safely 
trade  with  us.     But  commerce  will  find  out  its  own  sys- 

1  Child,  Gee,  ITuske,  and  Glover  Avrote  largely  on  American  trade,  and 
its  value  to  England.  Edmund  Burke  mastered  its  principles;  and  his 
speeches,  especially  that  of  1775,  contain  much  of  the  order  observable  in 
these  pages  of  Dr.  Stiles.  —  Ed. 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.        431 

tcm,  and  regulate  itself  in  time.  It  will  be  governed  on 
the  part  of  America  by  the  cheapest  foreign  markets ;  on 
the  part  of  Europe,  by  our  ability  and  punctuality  of  re- 
mittance. AYe  can  soon  make  a  remittance  of  three  or 
four  million  a  year,  in  a  circuitous  trade,  exclusive  of  the 
iniquitous  African  trade.-^  If  Europe  should  indulge  us 
beyond  this,  our  fliilures  and  disappointments  might  lay 
the  foundation  of  national  animosities.  Great  wisdom  is 
therefore  necessary  to  regulate  the  commerce  of  America. 
The  caution  with  which  we  are  to  be  treated  may  occasion 
and  originate  a  commercial  system  among  the  maritime 
nations  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  founded  in  justice 
and  reciprocity  of  interest,  which  will  establish  the  benev- 
olence as  well  as  the  opulence  of  nations,  and  advance  the 
progress  of  society  to  civil  j^erfection. 

It  is  certainly  for  the  benefit  of  every  community  that 
it  be  transfused  with  the  efficacious  motives  of  universal 
industry.  This  will  take  place  if  every  one  can  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  labor  and  activity  unmolested.  All  the  variety 
of  labor  in  a  well-regulated  state  will  be  so  ordered  and 
encouraged  as  that  all  will  be  employed,  in  a  just  propor- 
tion, in  agriculture,  mechanic  arts,  commerce,  and  the  lit- 
erary professions.  It  has  been  a  question  whether  agri- 
culture or  commerce  needs  most  encouragement  in  these 
states.  But  the  motives  for  both  seem  abundantly  suf- 
ficient. Never  did  they  operate  more  strongly  than  at  pres- 
ent. The  whole  continent  is  [in]  activity,  and  in  the  lively, 
vigorous  exertion  of  industry.  Several  other  things  call 
for  encouragement,  as  the  planting  of  vineyards,  and  olive 
yards,   and   cotton-walks ;    the   raising  of  wool,  planting 

1  The  pulpits  of  Dr.  Stiles  and  Dr.  Hopkins,  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  —  then  the 
headquarters  of  the  African  slave-trade,  —  afford  models  of  apostolic  fidel- 
ity in  gospel  preaching  at  "  the  sins  of  the  times."  They  were  Christian 
heroes.    Sec  Dr.  Park's  Memoir  of  Samuel  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  18-54.  —  Ed. 


432  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 


mulberry  trees,  and  the  culture  of  silk ;  and,  I  add,  estab- 
lishing manufoctories.^  This  last  is  necessary,  very  neces- 
sary—  far  more  necessary,  indeed,  than  is  thought  by 
many  deep  politicians.  Let  us  have  all  the  means  possible 
of  subsistence  and  elegance  among  ourselves,  if  we  would 
be  a  flourishing  republic  of  real  independent  dignity  and 
glory. 

Another  thing  tending  to  the  public  welfare  is,  removing 
causes  of  political  animosities  and  civil  dissension,  promot- 
ing harmony,  and  strengthening  the  union  among  the 
several  parts  of  this  extended  community.^  In  the  memo- 
rable helium  sociale  among  the  Romans,  three  hundred 
thousand  of  Roman  blood  fought  seven  hundred  thousand 
brethren  of  the  Italian  blood.  After  a  loss  of  sixty  thou- 
sand, in  disputing  a  trifling  point  of  national  honor,  they 
pacificated  the  whole  by  an  amnesty,  and  giving  the  city 
to  the  Italians.*  ^A^e  may  find  it  a  wise  policy,  a  few  years 
hence,  under  certain  exceptions,  to  settle  an  amnesty  and 

aTid.  Velleius  paterc. 

1  Hildreth,  iii.  466.  The  imports  from  Great  Britain  in  1784  and  1785 
amounted  in  value  to  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  exports  did  not 
exceed  nine  millions.  This  ruinous  competition  was  checked  by  the  law 
of  1789,  proposed  by  Hamilton,  for  the  encouraj^ement  of  manufactures, 
to  which  the  war  of  1812  <?avc  a  fresh  impulse.  They  have  felt  the  fluc- 
tuations of  party  and  of  commerce,  but  the  United  States  are  now  far 
advanced  to  the  "real  independent  dignity"  foreseen  by  Dr.  Stiles  in 
1783.  Arkwright  and  "Whitney,  Fulton  and  Watt,  divide  the  honors 
in  this  noble  competition  of  industry.    See  p.  335,  note  1.  —  Ed. 

2  In  a  sermon,  preached  in  1700,  on  the  conquest  of  Canada,  Dr.  Stiles 
said:  "  It  is  probable  that  in  time  there  will  be  a  Provincial  Confederacy 
and  a  Common  Council,  and  this  may  in  time  terminate  in  an  Imperial  Diet, 
when  the  imperial  dominion  will  subsist,  as  it  ought,  in  election."  The 
sagacious  author  saw  the  "  imperial  dominion,"  as  he  called  it  in  1760,  or 
"  amnesty,"  as  he  termed  it  in  1783,  consummated  in  the  unanimous  elec- 
tion of  Washington  in  1783  as  President  of  the  Republic  —  of  "  the  people 
of  the  United  States."  This  foreseeing,  this  repeated  prediction,  first  of 
the  Confederacy,  and  then  of  its  "  terminating"  "in  a  few  years"  in  the 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   438 

circulate  a  brotherly  affection  among  all  the  inhabitants 
of  this  glorious  republic,  ^e  should  live  henceforward 
in  amity,  as  brothers  inspired  with  and  cultiyating  a  cer- 
tain national  beneyolence,  unitedly  glorying  in  the  name 
of  a  Columbian  or  American,  and  in  the  distinguished 
honor  and  aggrandizement  of  our  country; — like  that 
ancient  national  affection  which  we  once  had  for  the 
parent  state  while  we  gloried  in  being  a  part  of  the  Brit- 
ish empire,  and  when  our  attachment  and  fidelity  grew  to 
an  unexampled  yigor  and  strength.  This  apjieared  in  the 
tender  distress  we  felt  at  the  first  thoughts  of  the  dissolu- 
tion of  this  ancient  friendship.  We  once  thought  Britain 
our  friend,  and  gloried  in  her  protection.  But  some 
demon*  whispered  folly  into  the  present  reign,  and  Britain 
forced  upon  America  the  tremendous  alternatiye  of  the 
loss  of  liberty  or  the  last  appeal,  either  of  which  instantly 
alienated  and  dissolved  our  affection.  It  was  impossible 
to  hesitate,  and  the  affection  is  dissolved,  never,  never 
more  to  be  recovered;  like  that  between  Syracuse  and 
Athens,  it  is  lost  forever.  A  political  earthquake  through 
the  continent  hath  shook  off  America  from  Great  Britain. 
Oh,  how  painful  and  distressing  the  separation  and  dis- 
memberment I  AYitness,  all  ye  patriotic  breasts,  all  ye 
lovers  of  your  country,  once  lovers  of  Great  Britain  — 
witness  the  tender  sensations  and  heartfelt  violence,  the 
reluctant  distress  and  sorrow,  with  which  ye  were  pene- 
trated, when,  spurned  from  a  parent's  love,  ye  felt  the  con- 
viction of  the  dire  necessity  of  an  everlasting  parting  to 
meet  no  more  —  never  to  be  united  again! 

O,  England !    how  did  I  once  love  thee  !    how  did  I 
once   glory   in   thee !  how   did   I  once  boast  of  springing 

a  Bute. 
Union,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  political  foresight  and 
saj^acity  on  record.  —  Ed. 

37 


434  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783 


from  thy  bowels,  though  at  four  descents  ago,  and  the 
nineteenth  from  Sir  Adam  of  Knapton !  In  the  rapturous 
anticipation  of  thine  enlargement  and  reflourishing  in  this 
western  world,  how  have  I  been  wont  to  glory  in  the 
future  honor  of  having  thee  for  the  head  of  the  Britannico- 
American  empire  for  the  many  ages  till  the  millennium, 
when  thy  great  national  glory  should  have  been  advanced 
in  then  becoming  a  member  of  the  universal  empire  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace!  And  if  perchance,  in  some  future  period, 
danger  should  have  arisen  to  thee  from  European  states, 
how  have  I  flown  on  the  wings  of  prophecy,  with  the 
numerous  hardy  hosts  of  thine^  American  sons  inheriting 
thine  ancient  principles  of  liberty  and  valor,  to  rescue  and 
reii) throne  the  hoary,  venerable  head  of  the  most  glorious 
empire  on  earth  !  But  now,  farewell  —  a  long  farewell  — 
to  all  this  greatness !  And  yet  even  now,  methinks,  in 
such  an  exigency,  I  could  leap  the  Atlantic,  not  into  thy 
bosom,  but  to  rescue  an  aged  parent  from  destruction,  and 
then  return  on  the  wings  of  triumph  to  this  asylum  of  the 
world,  and  rest  in  the  bosom  of  Liberty.^ 

1  See  pp.  130-135,  184,  185,  238.  —Ed. 

2  It  is  grand  to  find  the  magnanimous  feelings  and  views  of  early  times, 
briefly  interrupted,  again  asserting  their  legitimate  power  in  the  leading 
minds  of  this  day,  and  none  would  more  enjoy  and  value  the  flow  of 
good  feeling  and  sound  sense  in  the  following  passage  than  Washington 
and  his  associates : 

"  Of  all  countries  known  in  history,  the  North  American  Republic  is 
most  conspicuously  marked  by  the  fusion,  or  rather  the  absence,  of  rank 
and  social  distinctions,  by  community  of  interests,  by  incessant  and  all- 
pervading  intercommunication,  by  the  universal  diff"usion  of  education, 
and  the  abundant  facilities  of  access  not  only  to  the  periodical  conduits, 
but  to  the  permanent  reservoirs  of  knowledge.  The  condition  of  England 
is  in  all  these  respects  closely  assimilated  to  that  of  the  United  States; 
and  not  only  the  methods,  but  the  instruments  of  popular  instruction 
are  fast  becoming  the  same  in  both,  and  there  is  a  growing  conviction 
among  the  wise  of  the  two  great  empires  that  the  highest  interests  of  both 
will  be  promoted  by  reciprocal  good-will  and  unrestricted   intercourse. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  435 

Moreover,  as  we  have  seen  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors 
in  instituting  a  militia,  so  it  is  necessary  to  continue  it. 
The  Game  Act,  in  the  time  of  James  L,  insidiously  dis- 
armed the  i^eople  of  England.^  Let  us  not  be  insidiously 
disarmed.  In  all  our  enlargements  in  colonization,  in  all 
our  increasing  millions,  let  the  main  body  be  exercised 
annually  to  military  disciijline,  whether  in  war  or  jDeace. 
This  will  defend  us  against  ourselves  and  against  surround- 
ing states.  Let  this  be  known  in  Europe,  in  every  future 
age,  and  we  shall  never  again  be  invaded  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  "  The  militia^  of  this  country,"  says 
General  Washington,  "must  be  considered  as  the  palla- 
dium of  our  security  and  the  first  effectual  resort  in  case  of 
hostility." 

Another  thing  necessary  is  a  vigilance  against  corrup- 

perilled  by  jealousies  and  estrangement.  Favored,  then,  by  the  mighty 
elective  affinities,  the  powerful  hannonic  attractions  which  subsist  between 
the  Americans  and  the  Englishmen  as  brothers  of  one  blood,  one  speech, 
one  faith,  we  may  reasonably  hope  that  the  Anglican  tongue,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  as  it  grows  in  flexibility,  comprehensiveness,  expres- 
sion, wealth,  will  also  more  and  more  clearly  manifest  the  organic  unity 
of  its  branches,  and  that  national  jealousies,  material  rivalries,  narrow 
interests,  will  not  disjoin  and  shatter  that  great  instrument  of  social 
advancement  which  God  made  one,  as  he  made  one  the  spirit  of  the 
nation  that  uses  it." —  Marsh,  "  English  Language  in  America,"  Lecture 
XXX.,  I860.  — Ed. 

1  By  the  Act  3d  James  I.,  1606,  persons  of  an  annual  landed  revenue 
of  £100  were  empowered  to  seize  all  guns  and  sporting  implements  from 
any  and  all  persons  of  an  income  of  less  than  £40  a  year,  they  being 
deemed  unqualified  for  the  enjoyment  of  cony  and  deer  hunting.  In 
those  days  the  king  called  upon  all  of  £40  a  year  to  receive  knighthood,  or 
pay  into  his  royal  palm  a  fee  for  escaping  the  honor.  Such  were  the 
hazards  of  having  "£40  a  year,"  or  more  or  less;  such  the  security  of 
individual  or  popular  rights ;  and  such  the  boast  of  him  who  may  hold 
his  patent  of  nobility,  temp.  Jac.  I.  —  Ed. 

2  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  1789,  provides  that,  "  a  well- 
regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  state,  the  right 
of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed." — Ed. 


436  DR.    STIT.RS'fci    ELECTLOI^    SERMON,    1783. 

tion  in  purchasing  elections  and  in  designations  to  offices 
in  the  Legislatures  and  Congress,  instituting  such  effica- 
cious provisions  against  corruption  as  shall  preclude  the 
possibility  of  its  rising  to  any  great  height  before  it  shall 
be  controlled  and  corrected.^  Although,  in  every  political 
administration,  the  appointment  to  offices  will  ever  be 
considerably  influenced  by  the  sinister,  private,  personal 
motives  either  of  interest  or  friendship,  yet  the  safety  of 
the  state  requires  that  this  should  not  go  too  far.  An 
administration  may  indeed  proceed  tolerably  when  the 
officers  of  a  well-arranged  system  are  in  general  ordinary 
characters,  j^rovided  there  is  a  pretty  good  sprinkling  of 
men  of  wisdom  interspersed  among  them.  How  much 
more  illustrious  would  it  be  if  three  quarters  of  the  offices 
of  government  w^ere  filled  with  men  of  ability,  understand- 
ing, and  patriotism!  What  an  animation  would  it  dif- 
fuse through  a  community  if  nien  of  real  merit  in  every 
branch  of  business  were  sure  of  receiving  the  rewards  and 
honors  of  the  state!     That  great  and  wise  monarch,  01am 

1  President  Buchanan,  whose  many  years  and  opportunities  of  observa- 
tion and  experience,  early  and  late,  give  weight  to  his  testimony  both  as 
to  fact  and  principle,  in  a  letter  of  the  22d  of  November,  1858,  wrote  as 
follows : 

"  I  shall  assume  the  privilege  of  advancing  years  in  referring  to  another 
growing  and  dangerous  evil.  In  the  last  age,  although  our  fathers,  like 
ourselves,  were  divided  into  political  parties,  which  often  had  severe  con- 
flicts, yet  we  never  heard,  until  a  recent  period,  of  the  employment  of  money 
to  carry  elections.  Should  this  practice  increase  until  the  voters  and  their 
representatives  in  the  state  and  national  legislatures  shall  become  infected, 
the  fountain  of  free  government  will  then  be  poisoned  at  its  source,  and 
we  must  end,  as  history  proves,  in  military  despotism.  A  democratic 
republic,  all  agree,  cannot  long  survive  unless  sustained  by  public  virtue. 
When  this  is  corrupted,  and  the  people  become  venal,  there  is  a  canker  at 
the  root  of  the  tree  of  liberty,  which  must  cause  it  to  Avithcr  and  die." 

In  a  letter  to  the  editor,  in  1816,  Hon,  Henry  Clay  said  of  the  system 
indicated  by  the  phrase  "To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  it  is  a  "policy 
which  I  fear  may,  in  the  end,  prove  disastrous  to  our  institutions."— Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   437 

Foclhla,  the  Alfred  of  Ireland,  one  thousand  years  before 
Christ,  instituted  an  annual  review  and  examination  of  all 
the  achievements  and  illustrious  characters  in  the  realm ; 
and,  being  approved  by  himself  and  the  annual  assembly 
of  the  nobles,  he  ordered  their  names  and  achievements  to 
be  enrolled  in  a  public  register  of  merit.  This  continued 
two  thousand  years,  to  the  time  of  that  illustrious  chief- 
tain, Brien  O'Boroihme.  This  had  an  amazing  effect.  By 
this  animation,  the  heroic,  military,  and  political  virtues, 
with  civilization,  and,  I  add,  science  and  literature,  as- 
cended to  an  almost  unexampled  and  incredible  perfec- 
tion in  Ireland,  ages  before  they  figured  in  other  parts  of 
Europe,  not  excepting  even  Athens  and  Rome.  I  have 
a  very  great' opinion  of  Hibernian  merit,  literary  as  well  as 
civil  and  military,  even  in  the  ages  before  St.  Patrick. 

But  to  return  :  The  cultivation  of  literature  will  greatly 
promote  the  public  "svelfare.  In  every  community,  w^hile 
provision  is  made  that  allr  should  be  taught  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  very  useful  parts  of  common  education, 
a  good  proportion  should  be  carried  through  the  higher 
branches  of  literature.  Effectual  measures  should  be  taken 
for  preserving  and  diffusing  knowledge  among  a  people. 
The  voluntary  institution  of  libraries  in  different  vicinities 
will  give  those  who  have  not  a  liberal  education  an  oppor- 
tunity of  gaining  that  knowledge  which  will  qualify  them 
lor  usefulness.  Travels,  biography,  and  history,  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  policies,  jurisprudence,  and  scientific  improve- 
ments among  all  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  will  form 
the  civilian,  the  judge,  the  senator,  the  patrician,  the  man 
of  useful  eminence  in  society.  The  colleges  have  been 
of  singular  advantage  in  the  present  day.^     When  Britain 

1  There  are  124  colleges,  51  theological  schools,  19  law  schools,  and  40 
medical,  in  the  United  States.  —  American  Almanac,  1860.    The  United 

37* 


438  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

withdrew  all  her  wisdora  from  America,  this  revolution 
found  above  two  thousand,  in  New  England  only,  who 
had  been  educated  in  the  colleges,  intermixed  among 
the  people,  and  communicating  knowledge  among  them. 
Almost  all  of  them  have  approved  themselves  useful; 
and  there  have  been  some  characters  among  us  of  the 
first  eminence  for  literature.^  It  would  be  for  the  public 
emolument  should  there  always  be  found  a  sufficient 
number  of  men  in  the  community  at  large  of  vast  and 
profound  erudition,  and  perfect  acquaintance  with  the 
whole  system  of  public  affairs,  to  illuminate  the  public 
councils,  as  well  as  fill  the  three  learned  professions  with 
dignity  and  honor. 

I  have  thus  shown  wherein  consists  the  true  political 
welfare  of  a  civil  community  or  sovereignty.  The  founda- 
tion is  laid  in  a  judicious  distribution  of  property,  and  in  a 
good  system  of  polity  and  jurisprudence,  on  which  will 
arise,  under  a  truly  patriotic,  upright,  and  firm  adminis- 
tration, the  beautiful  superstructure  of  a  well-governed 
and  prosperous  empire. 

Already  does  the  new  constellation  of  the  United  States 
begin  to  realize  this  glory.  It  has  already  risen  to  an 
acknowledged  sovereignty  among  the  republics  and  king- 
doms of  the  world.  And  we  have  reason  to  hope,  and,  I 
believe,  to  expect,  that  God  has  still  greater  blessings  in 
store  for  this  vine  which  his  own  right  hand  hath  planted, 
to  make  us  high  among  the  nations  in  praise,  and  in  name. 

States  census  of  1850  showed,  at  that  date,  an  annual  expenditure  of 
about  $15,000,000  for  newspapers  and  periodical  literature,  which,  on  a 
probable  estimate,  "would  cover  a  surface  of  one  hundred  square  miles, 
or  constitute  a  belt  of  thirty  feet  around  the  earth,  and  weigh  nearly 
70,000,000  pounds."  There  were,  at  the  same  date,  15,615  other  than  pri- 
vate lil)raries,  containin<2,-  4,030,411  volumes,  much  the  larger  portion  of  the 
above  being  in  the  northern  states.  — Ed. 
1  See  pp.  xxxii.,  xxxiv.,  43.—  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       439 

and  in  honor.  The  reasons  are  very  numerous,  weighty, 
and  conchisive. 

In  our  civil  constitutions,  those  impediments  are  re- 
moved which  obstruct  the  progress  of  society  towards 
perfection,  such,  for  instance,  as  respect  the  tenure  of 
estates,  and  arbitrary  government.  The  vassalage  of 
dependent  tenures,  the  tokens  of  ancient  conquests  by 
Goths  and  Tartars,  still  remain  all  over  Asia  and  Europe. 
In  this  respect,  as  well  as  others,  the  w^orld  begins  to 
open  its  eyes.  One  grand  experiment,  in  particular,  has 
lately  been  made.  The  present  Emj^ress  of  Russia,  by 
granting  lands  in  freehold,  in  her  vast  wildernesses  of  Yol- 
kouskile,  together  with  religious  liberty,  has  allured  and 
already  drafted  from  Poland  and  Germany  a  coloniza- 
tion of  six  hundred  thousand  souls  in  six  years  only,  from 
1762  to  1768.^ 

Liberty,  civil  and  religious,  has  sweet  and  attractive 
charms.  The  enjoyment  of  this,  with  property,  has  filled 
the  English  settlers  in  America  with  a  most  amazing 
spirit,  which  has  operated,  and  still  will  operate,  with  great 
energy.  Never  before  has  the  experiment  been  so  effectu- 
ally tried  of  every  man's  reaping  the  fruits  of  his  labor  and 
feeling  his  share  in  the  aggregate  system  of  power.  The 
ancient  republics  did  not  stand  on  the  people  at  large,  and 
therefore  no  example  or  precedent  can  be  taken  from 
them.  Even  men  of  arbitrary  principles  will  be  obliged, 
if  they  would  figure  in  these  states,  to  assume  the  patriot 
so  long  that  they  will  at  length  become  charmed  with  the 
sweets  of  liberty. 

Our  degree  of  population  is  such  as  to  give  us  reason  to 
expect  that  this  will  become  a  great  people.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  within  a  century  from  our  independence  the  sun 
will  shine  on   fifty  millions  of  inhabitants  in  the  United 

a  Marshal's  Travels. 


440  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

States.^  This  will  be  a  great,  a  very  great  nation,  nearly 
equal  to  half  Europe.  Already  has  our  colonization  ex- 
tended down  the  Ohio,  and  to  Koskaseah  on  the  Missis- 
sippi. And  if  the  present  ratio  of  increase  should  be 
rather  diminished  in  some  of  the  other  settlements,  yet 
an  accelerated  multiplication  will  attend  our  general  prop- 
agation, and  overspread  the  whole  territory  westward  for 
ages.  So  that  before  the  millennium  the  English  settle- 
ments in  America  may  become  more  numerous  millions 
than  that  greatest  dominion  on  earth,  the  Chinese  Empire. 
Should  this  prove  a  future  fact,  how  applicable  would  be 
the  text,  when  the  Lord  shall  have  made  his  American 
Israel  high  above  all  nations  which  he  has  made,  in  num- 
bers, and  in  praise,  and  in  name,  and  in  honor ! 

I  am  sensible  some  will  consider  these  as  visionary, 
Utopian  ideas;  and  so  they  would  have  judged  had  they 
lived  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  been  told  that  by  the  time 
of  Constantine  the  Empire  would  have  become  Christian. 
As  visionary  that  the  twenty  thousand  souls  which  first 
settled  New  England  should,  be  multiplied  to  near  a 
million  in  a  century  and  a  half  ^  As  visionary  that  the 
Ottoman  Empire  must  fall  by  the  Russian.  As  visionary 
to  the  Catholics  is  the  certain  downfall  of  the  pontificate. 

1  As  deduced,  by  method  of  finite  differences,  from  the  census  returns  of 
1830,  MO,  and  '50,  the  population  of  the  United  States  will  be,  in  1883, 
56,992,000;  and,  on  an  assumed  equi-rational  law  of  increase,  according  to 
the  returns  of  1820,  '30,  '40,  and  '50,  it  will  then  be  60,146,000.  —  Mr.  E.  B. 
Elliott's  MSS.  Thus  the  official  decennial  enumerations  more  than  justify 
the  estimates  made  by  Dr.  Stiles  from  his  comparatiA^ely  crude  data.  Dr. 
Franklin  made  similar  calculations.  See  Franklin's  Works,  edited  by  Jared 
Sparks,  LL.D.,  ii.,  p.  319.  There  are  now  living  some  who  will  see  the 
political  centre  of  the  Union  near  the  Mississippi;  and  already  the  com- 
merce of  the  great  lakes  exceeds  the  total  foreign  commerce  of  the  United 
States.  See  Cooper's  Cont.  to  Smithsonian  Inst.  1858,  paper  on  the  region 
west  of  the  Mississippi. —Ed. 

2  Sec  p.  211,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


i 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OP   THE   UNITED   STATES.       441 

As  Utopian  would  it  have  been  to  the  loyalists,  at  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  that  in  less  than  eight  years  the  inde- 
pendence and  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  should  be 
acknowledged  by  four  European  sovereignties,  one  of 
which  should  be  Britain  herself.  How  wonderful  the 
revolutions,  the  events  of  Providence !  We  live  in  an  age 
of  wonders  ;  we  have  lived  an  age  in  a  few  years ;  we  have 
seen  more  wonders  accomplished  in  eight  years  than  are 
usually  unfolded  in  a  century. 

God  be  thanked,  we  have  lived  to  see  peace  restored  to 
this  bleeding  land,  at  least  a  general  cessation  of  hostilities 
among  the  belligerent  powers.  And  on  this  occasion  does 
it  not  become  us  to  reflect  how  wonderful,  how  gracious, 
how  glorious  has  been  the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us, 
in  carrying  us  through  so  tremendous  a  warfare!  We 
have  sustained  a  force  brouo-ht  ao^ainst  us  which  mioht 

CO  o 

have  made  any  empire  on  earth  to  tremble ;  and  yet  our 
bow  has  abode  in  strength,  and,  having  obtained  help  of 
God,  we  continue  unto  this  day.  Forced  unto  the  last 
solemn  appeal,  America  watched  for  the  first  blood  ;  ^  this 
was  shed  by  Britons  on  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1775, 
which  instantly  sprung  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  into 
spontaneous  existence,  with  the  enterprising  and  daring,  if 
imprudent,  resolution  of  entering  Boston  and  forcibly  dis- 
burdening it  of  its  bloody  legions.-  Every  patriot  trembled 
till  we  had  proved  our  armor,  till  it  could  be  seen  whether 
this  hasty  concourse  was  susceptible  of  exercitual  arrange- 
ment, and  could  face  the  enemy  with  firmness.  They  early 
gave  us  the  decided  proof  of  this  in  the  memorable  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill.''  We  were  satisfied.  This  instantly  con- 
vinced us,  and  for  the  first  time  convinced  Britons  them- 
selves, that  Americans   both  would  and  could  fight  with 

a  June  17,  1775. 

1  See  pp.  235,  237.  — Ed. 


442  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

great  effect.  Whereupon  Congress  put  at  the  head  of  this 
spirited  army  the  only  man  on  whom  the  eyes  of  all 
Israel  were  placed.  Posterity,  I  apprehend,  and  the  world 
itself^  inconsiderate  and  incredulous  as  they  may  be  of  the 
dominion  of  Heaven,  will  yet  do  so  much  justice  to  the 
divine  moral  government  as  to  acknowledge  that  this 
American  Joshua  was  raised  up  by  God,  and  divinely 
formed,  by  a  peculiar  influence  of  the  Sovereign  of  the 
universe,  for  the  great  work  of  leading  the  armies  of  this 
American  Joseph  (now  separated  from  his  brethren),  and 
conducting  this  people  through  the  severe,  the  arduous 
conflict,  to  liberty  and  independence.  Surprising  was  it 
with  what  instant  celerity  men  ascended  and  rose  into 
generals,  and  ofiicers  of  every  subordination,  formed  chiefly 
by  the  preparatory  discipline  of  only  the  preceding  year 
1774,^  when  the  ardor  and  spirit  of  military  discipline  was 
by  Heaven,  and  without  concert,  sent  through  the  conti- 
nent like  lightning.  Surprising  was  it  how  soon  the  army 
was  organized,  took  its  formation,  and  rose  into  firm  system 
and  impregnable  arrangement. 

To  think  of  withstanding  and  encountering  Britain  by 
land  was  bold,  and  much  more  bold  and  daring  by  sea ; 
yet  we  immediately  began  a  navy,  and  built  ships  of  war 
with  an  unexampled  expedition.  It  is  presumed  never 
was  a  thirty-five-gun  ship  before  built  quicker  than  that 
well-built,  noble  ship,  the  Raleigh^  which  was  finished 
from  the  keel  and  equipped  for  sea  in  a  few  months. 
Soon  had  we  got,  though  small,  a  very  gallant  initial  navy, 


1  See  pp.  193,  lOG,  214-220,  224,  251,  253,  note.  —  Ed. 

2  *'  A  fine  twelve-pounder  frigate,"  launched  May  21, 1776,  at  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.  Her  hull  was  completed  in  sixty  days  after  her  keel  was  laid.  She 
"was  pierced  for  thirty-two  guns.  Nine  weeks  before  the  "  Madison,"  of 
twenty-four  guns,  was  launched  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  November  26,  1812, 
her  timber  was  growing  in  the  forest.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE   UNITED    STATES.       443 

which  fought  gallantly,  and  wanted  nothing  but  numbers 
of  ships  for  successful  operations  against  that  superior 
naval  force  before  which  we  fell.  We  have,  however, 
exhibited  proof  to  posterity  and  the  world  that  a  powerful 
navy  may  be  originated,  built,  and  equipped  for  service 
in  a  much  shorter  period  than  was  before  imagined.  The 
British  navy  has  been  many  centuries  growing ;  and 
France,  Holland,  the  Baltic  powers,  or  any  of  the  powers 
of  this  age,  in  twenty  years  may  build  navies  of  equal 
magnitude,  if  necessary  for  dominion,  commerce,  or  orna- 
ment. 

A  variety  of  success  and  defeat  hath  attended  our  war- 
fare both  by  sea  and  land.  In  our  lowest  and  most  danger- 
ous estate,  in  1776  and  1777,  we  sustained  ourselves  against 
the  British  army  of  sixty  thousand  troops,  commanded  by 
Howe,  Burgoyne,  and  Clinton,  and  other  the  ablest  generals 
Britain  could  procure  throughout  Europe,  with  a  naval 
force  of  twenty-two  thousand  seamen  in  above  eighty 
British  men-of-war.^  These  generals  we  sent  home,  one 
after  another,  conquered,  defeated,  and  convinced  of  the 
impossibility  of  subduing  America.  While  oppressed  by 
the  heavy  weight  of  this  combined  force.  Heaven  inspired 
us  with  resolution  to  cut  the  gordian  knot,  when  the  die 
was  cast  irrevocable  in  the  glorious  act  of  Independence. 
This  was  sealed  and  confirmed  by  God  Almighty  in  the 
victory  of  General  Washington  at  Trenton,  and  in  the 
surprising  movement  and  battle  of  Princeton,  by  which 
astonishing  effort  of  generalship  General  Howe  and  the 
whole  British  army,  in  elated  confidence  and  in  open- 
mouthed  march  for  Philadelphia,  was  instantly  stopped, 

a  To  lose  America  has  cost  Britain  the  loss  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  millions  sterling  in  money.  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt, 
from  authentic  documents,  lately  asserted  in  Parliament  that  only  the  first  five 
years  of  this  war  had  cost  Britain  five  millions  more  than  all  the  wars  of  the 
last  age,  including  the  splendid  victories  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough. 


444  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

remanded  back,  and  cooped  up  for  a  shivering  winter  in 
the  little  borough  of  Brunswick.  Thus  God  "  turned  the 
battle  to  the  gate,"  and  this  gave  a  finishing  to  the  foun- 
dation of  the  American  Republic.  This,  with  the  Bur- 
goynade  at  Saratoga  by  General  Gates,  and  the  glorious 
victory  over  the  Earl  of  Cornwallis  in  Virginia,  together 
with  the  memorable  victory  of  Eutaw  Springs,  and  the 
triumphant  recovery  of  the  southern  states  by  General 
Greene,  are  among  the  most  heroic  acts  and  brilliant 
achievements  which  have  decided  the  fate  of  America. 
And  who  does  not  see  the  indubitable  interposition  and 
energetic  influence  of  Divine  Providence  in  these  great 
and  illustrious  events?  Who  but  a  Washington,  inspired 
by  Heaven,  could  have  struck  out  the  great  movement 
and  manoeuvre  at  Princeton  ?  To  whom  but  the  Ruler  of 
the  winds  shall  we  ascribe  it  that  the  British  reinforce- 
ment, in  the  summer  of  1777,  was  delayed  on  the  ocean 
three  months  by  contrary  winds,  until  it  was  too  late  for 
the  conflagrating  General  Clinton  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Saratoga?  What  but  a  providential  miracle  detected  the 
conspiracy  of  Arnold,  even  in  the  critical  moment  of  the 
execution  of  that  infernal  plot,  in  w^hich  the  body  of  the 
American  army,  then  at  West  Point,  wdth  his  Excellency 
General  Washington  himself,  were  to  have  been  rendered 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy?  Doubtless  inspired  by  the 
Supreme  Illuminator  of  great  minds  were  the  joint  coun- 
sels of  a  Washington  and  a  Rochambeau  in  that  grand 
effort  of  generalsliip  with  which  they  deceived  and  aston- 
ished a  Clinton,  and  eluded  his  vigilance,  in  their  transit 
by  New  York  and  rapid  marches  for  Virginia.  Was  it 
not  of  God  that  both  the  navy  and  army  should  enter  the 
Chesapeake  at  the  same  time?  Who  but  God  could  have 
ordained  the  critical  arrival  of  the  Gallic  fleet,  so  as  to 
prevent  and  defeat  the  British,  and  assist  and  cooperate 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY    OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.        445 

with  the  combined  armies  in  the  siege  and  reduction  of 
Yorktown  ?  Should  we  not  ever  admire  and  ascribe  to  a 
Supreme  Energy  the  wise  and  firm  generalship  displayed  by 
General  Greene  when,  leaving  the  active,  roving  Cornwallis 
to  pursue  his  helter-skelter,  ill-fated  march  into  Virginia, 
he  coolly  and  steadily  went  onwards,  and  deliberately, 
judiciously,  and  heroically  recovered  the  Carolinas  and  the 
southern  states? 

How  rare  have  been  the  defections  and  apostasies  of  our 
capital  characters,  though  tempted  with  all  the  charms  of 
gold,  titles,  and  nobility!  Whence  is  it  that  so  few  of  our 
army  have  deserted  to  the  enemy?  Whence  that  our 
brave  sailors  have  chosen  the  horrors  of  prison-ships  and 
death,  rather  than  to  fight  against  their  country?  Whence 
that  men  of  every  rank  have  so  generally  felt  and  spoken 
alike,  as  if  the  cords  of  life  struck  unison  through  the  con^ 
tinent  ?  What  but  a  miracle  has  preserved  the  union  of 
the  States,  the  purity  of  Congress,  and  the  unshaken  pa- 
triotism of  every  General  Assembly  ?  It  is  God,  who  ha» 
raised  up  for  us  a  great  and  powerful  ally,  ^  —  an  ally  which 
sent  us  a  chosen  army  and  a  naval  force  ;  who  sent  us  a 
Rochambeau  and  a  Chastelleux,^  and  other  characters  of 
the  first  military  merit  and  eminence,  to  fight  side  by  side 
with  a  Washington  and  a  Lincoln,  and  the  intrepid  Amer- 
icans, in  the  siege  and  battle  of  Yorktown.     It  is  God 


1  The  gratitude  due  to  France  for  the  services  rendered  to  us  in  our  Rev- 
olution is  considered  in  Letters  iv. — vii.  of  "  Paciflcus"— Alexander  Ham- 
ilton —  on  Washington's  Proclamation  of  Neutrality  of  1793.  See  also 
"  Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,"  by  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  index, 
Marbois,  Vergennes.  —Ed. 

2  The  volume  of  Travels  in  North  America,  in  1780-1-2,  by  the  Marquis 
de  Chastelleux,  is  rich  in  obsen^ations  on  the  men  and  things  of  that  period. 
The  English  translation  of  1787  was  republished  in  New  York  in  1827, 

with  spicy  notes.     For  instance,  Mr.  John was  "  celebrated  for 

duplicity  on  both  sides  of  the  water."—  Ed. 

38 


446  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION   SERMON,    1783. 

who  SO  ordered  the  balancing  interests  of  nations  as  to 
produce  an  irresistible  motive  in  the  European  maritime 
powers  to  take  our  part.  Hence  the  recognition  of  our 
independence  by  Spain  and  Holland,  as  well  as  France. 
Britain  ought  to  have  foreseen  that  it  must  have  given  joy 
to  surrounding  nations,  tired  and  wearied  out  with  the 
insolence  and  haughtiness  of  her  domineering  flag,  —  a  flag 
which  spread  terror  through  the  oceans  of  the  terraqueous 
globe,  —  to  behold  the  era  when  their  forces  should  have 
arrived  at  such  matuMty  and  strength  that  a  junction  of 
national  navies  would  produce  an  aggregate  force  adequate 
to  the  humiliation  of  Britain  and  her  gallant  and  lofty 
navy.  Nor  could  they  resist  the  operation  of  this  motive 
j)rompting  them  to  assist  in  the  cutting  off  of  a  member 
with  which  the  growing  aggrandizement  and  power  of 
Britain  were  connected,  as  thus  she  would  be  disarmed  of 
terror,  and  they  should  be  at  rest.  If  Britain  doth  not 
learn  wisdom  by  these  events,  and  disclaim  the  sovereignty 
of  the  ocean,  the  junction  of  national  navies^  will  settle  the 
point  for  her  in  less  than  half  a  century  ;  so  wonderfully 
does  Divine  Providence  order  the  time  and  coincidence  of 
the  public  national  motives,  cooperating  in  efiecting  great 
public  events  and  revolutions. 

But  the  time  would  fail  me  to  recount  the  wonder-work- 
ing providence  of  God  in  the  events  of  this  war.  Let 
these  serve  as  a  specimen,  and  lead  us  to  hope  that  God 
will  not  forsake  this  people  for  whom  he  has  done  such 
marvellous  things,  —  whereof  we  are  glad,  and  rejoice  this 
day,  —  having  at  length  brought  us  to  the  dawn  of  peace, 
O  Peace,  thou  welcome  guest,  all  hail !  Thou  heavenly 
visitant,  calm  the  tumult  of  nations,  and  wave  thy  balmy 
wing  to  perpetuity  over  this  region  of  liberty !  Let  there 
be  a  tranquil  period  for  the  unmolested  accomplishment 

1  Sec  note  1  on  p.  457,  on  the  Armed  Neutrality.  —  Ed. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       447 

of  the  Magnalia  Dei — the  great  events  in  God's  moral 
government  designed  from  eternal  ages  to  be  displayed  in 
these  ends  of  the  earth. 

And  here  I  beg  leave  to  congratulate  my  country  upon 
the  termination  of  this  cruel  and  unnatural  war,  the  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  and  the  prospect  of  peace.  May  this 
great  event  excite  and  elevate  our  first,  our  highest  ac- 
knowledgments to  the  Sovereign  Monarch  of  universal 
nature,  to  the  Supreme  Disposer  and  Controller  of  all 
events !  Let  this,  our  pious,  sincere,  and  devout  gratitude, 
ascend  in  one  general  effusion  of  heartfelt  praise  and  hal- 
lelujah, in  one  united  cloud  of  incense,  even  the  incense 
of  universal  joy  and  thanksgiving,  to  God,  from  the  col- 
lective body  of  the  United  States. 

And  while  we  render  our  supreme  honors  to  the  Most 
High,  the  God  of  armies,  let  us  recollect  with  affec- 
tionate honor  the  bold  and  brave  sons  of  freedom  who 
willingly  offered  themselves  and  bled  in  the  defence  of 
their  country.  Our  fellow-citizens,  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers of  the  patriot  army,  who,  with  the  Manlys,^  the 
Joneses,  and  other  gallant  commanders  and  brave  seamen 
of  the  American  navy,  have  heroically  fought  the  war  by 
sea  and  by  land,  merit  of  their  once  bleeding  but  now 

1  Captain  John  Manly, —  "Jack  Manly," — of  Marblehead,  Massachu- 
setts, under  a  naval  commission  from  Washington,  October  24,  1775, 
hoisted  the  first  American  flag  on  board  the  schooner  Lee.  To  him  the 
first  British  flag  was  struck;  and,  on  the  28i:h  of  November,  1775,  he 
brought  into  Gloucester  the  first  prize  taken  in  behalf  of  the  entire  coun- 
try, the  English  ship  Nancy,  from  London  for  Boston,  freighted  with  mili- 
tary supplies,  which  were  taken  by  land  to  Cambridge,  to  the  joy  of 
"Washington,  and  which  were  of  immense  value  to  the  besieging  army  at 
that  moment  of  absolute  Avant.  This  Avas  one  of  the  wonderful  interposi- 
tions in  our  favor  so  remarkable  in  our  Avhole  history.  They  christened  one 
piece  "  The  Congress."  Captain  Manly,  eminent  in  naval  annals,  died  in 
Boston,  1793,  aged  fifty-nine.  —  Sabine's  Fisheries  of  the  American  Seas, 
200,  203;  Babson's  History  of  Gloucester,  397.  —  Ed. 


448  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

triumphant  country  laurels,  crowns,  rewards,  and  the  high- 
est honors.  Never  was  the  profession  of  arms  used  with 
more  glory,  or  in  a  better  cause,  since  the  days  of  Joshua 
the  son  of  Nun.  O  Washington !  how  do  I  love  thy 
name !  How  have  I  often  adored  and  blessed  thy  God  for 
creating  and  forming  thee  the  great  ornament  of  human 
kind  !  Upheld  and  protected  by  the  Omnipotent,  by  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  thou  hast  been  sustained  and  carried  through 
one  of  the  most  arduous  and  most  important  wars  in  all 
history.  The  world  and  j^osterity  will  with  admiration 
contemplate  thy  deliberate,  cool,  and  stable  judgment,  thy 
virtues,  thy  valor,  and  heroic  achievements,  as  far  surpass- 
ing those  of  a  Cyrus,  whom  the  w^orld  loved  and  adored. 
The  sound  of  thy  fame  shall  go  out  into  all  the  earth,  and 
extend  to  distant  ages.  Thou  hast  convinced  the  world 
of  the  beauty  of  virtue  ;  for  in  thee  this  beauty  shines 
with  distinguished  lustre.  Those  who  would  not  recog- 
nize any  beauty  in  virtue  in  the  world  beside,  will  yet 
reverence  it  in  thee.  There  is  a  glory  in  thy  disinterested 
benevolence  which  the  greatest  characters  would  purchase, 
if  possible,  at  the  expense  of  worlds,  and  which  may  excite 
indeed  their  emulation,  but  cannot  be  felt  by  the  venal 
great,  who  think  everything,  even  virtue  and  true  glory, 
may  be  bought  and  sold,  and  trace  our  every  action  to 
motives  terminating  in  self,  — 

"Find  virtue  local,  all  relation  scorn; 
Sec  all  in  self,  and  but  for  self  be  born."  » 

But  thou,  O  Washington !  forgottest  thyself  when  thou 
lovedst  thy  bleeding  country.  Not  all  the  gold  of  Ophir, 
nor  a  world  filled  with  rubies  and  diamonds,  could  effect 
or  purchase  the  sublime  and  noble  feelings  of  thine  heart 
in  that  single  self-moved  act  when  thou  reuouncedst  the 

a  Dunciad,  b.  4,  p.  480. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   449 

rewards  of  generalship,  and  heroically  tookest  upon  thyself 
the  dangerous  as  well  as  arduous  office  of  our  generalis- 
simo, and  this  at  a  solemn  moment,  when  thou  didst  delib- 
erately cast  the  die  for  the  dubious,  the  very  dubious 
alternative  of  a  gibbet  or  a  triumphal  arch.  But,  beloved, 
enshielded,  and  blessed  by  the  great  Melchisedec,  —  the 
King  of  righteousness  as  well  as  peace,  —  thou  hast  tri- 
umphed gloriously.  Such  has  been  thy  military  wisdom 
in  the  struggles  of  this  arduous  conflict,  —  such  the  noble 
rectitude,  aniiableness,  and  mansuetude  of  thy  character, — 
something  is  there  so  singularly  glorious  and  venerable 
thrown  by  Heaven  about  thee,  —  that  not  only  does  thy 
country  love  thee,  but  our  very  enemies  stop  the  madness 
of  their  fire  in  full  volley,  stop  the  illiberality  of  their 
slander  at  thy  name,  as  if  rebuked  from  Heaven  with  a 
"Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my  hero  no  harm!"  Thy 
fame  is  of  sweeter  perfume  than  Arabian  spices  in  the  gar- 
dens of  Persia.  A  Baron  de  Steuben  ^  shall  waft  its  fra- 
grance to  the  monarch  of  Prussia ;  a  Marquis  de  Lafayette 
shall  waft  it  to  a  far  greater  monarch,  and  diffiise  thy 
renown  throughout  Europe;*  listening  angels  shall  catch 
the  odor,  waft  it  to  heaven,  and  perfume  the  universe. 

And,  now  that  our  warfare  is  ended,  do  thou,  O  man  of 
God,  greatly  beloved  of  the  Most  High,  permit  a  humble 


a  The  author  does  not  doubt  but  that  the  capital  events  in  the  mediatorial 
kinj^dom  on  earth  into  which  angels  desire  to  look,  especially  those  whicli  re- 
spect the  Protestant  Zion,  are  subjects  of  extensive  attention  in  heaven,  and  that 
characters  of  real  and  eminent  merit  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  virtue  are  echoed 
and  contemplated  with  great  honor  in  the  celestial  realms. 

1  Counties  and  towns  in  Xew  York,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  perpetuate  the 
name  of  this  brave  and  noble-hearted  general,  a  volunteer  in  the  cause  of 
freedom  in  America.  He  remained  in  this  country,  and  died  at  Steuben- 
ville.  New  York,  November  28,  1708,  aired  sixty-four.  There  is  an  admi- 
rable outline  of  his  life  in  Lossing's  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,  ii.,  342, 
and  an  adequate  tribute  to  his  worth  and  services  may  be  found  in  his 
Life,  by  Friedrich  Kapp,  1859,  pp.  735.  —  Ed. 

38* 


450  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783 


minister  of  the  blessed  Jesus  —  who,  though  at  a  distance, 
has  vigilantly  accompanied  thee  through  every  stage  of 
thy  military  progress,  has  watched  thine  every  movement 
and  danger  with  a  heartfelt  anxiety  and  solicitude,  and, 
with  the  most  sincere  and  earnest  wishes  for  thy  safety 
and  success,  has  not  ceased  day  nor  night  to  pray  for 
thee,  and  to  commend  thee  and  thy  army  to  God  —  con- 
descend to  permit  him  to  express  his  most  cordial  congrat- 
ulations, and  to  share  in  the  triumphs  of  thy  bosom,  on 
this  great  and  joyous  occasion.  We  thank  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  that  has  given  his  servant  to  see  his  desire  upon  his 
enemies,  and  peace  on  Israel.  And  when  thou  shalt  now 
at  length  retire  from  the  fatigues  of  nine  laborious  cam- 
paigns to  the  tranquil  enjoyment,  to  the  sweetness  and 
serenity  of  domestic  life,  may  you  never  meet  the  fate  of 
that  ornament  of  arms  and  of  humanity,  the  great  Belisa- 
rius,  but  may  a  crown  of  universal  love  and  gratitude,  of 
universal  admiration,  and  of  the  universal  reverence  and 
honor  of  thy  saved  country,  rest  and  flourish  upon  the 
head  of  its  veteran  general  and  glorious  defender,  until,  by 
the  divine  Jesus  whom  thou  hast  loved  and  adored,  and  of 
whose  holy  religion  thou  art  not  ashamed,  thou  shalt  be 
translated  from  a  world  of  war  to  a  world  of  peace,  liberty, 
and  eternal  triumph ! 

The  time  would  fail  me  to  commemorate  the  merits  of 
the  other  capital  characters  of  the  army.  To  do  this,  and 
to  pay  the  tribute  of  fraternal  honor  and  respect  to  our 
glorious  allied  army,  will  belong  to  the  future  Homers, 
Livys,  and  Tassos  of  our  country;  for  none  but  Americans 
can  write  the  American  war.  They  will  celebrate  the 
names  of  a  Washington  and  a  Rochambeau,  a  Greene  and 
a  Lafayette,  a  Lincoln  and  a  Chastelleux,  a  Gates  and  a 
Viomenil,  a  Putnam  and  a  Duke  de  Lauzun,  a  Morgan,  and 
other  heroes,  who  rushed  to  arms  and  offered  themselves 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.       451 

voluntarily  for  the  defence  of  liberty.  They  will  take  up 
a  lamentation  and  drop  a  tear  upon  the  graves  of  those 
mighty  ones  —  those  beauties  of  Israel  —  who  have  fallen 
in  battle  from  the  day  of  Lexington  to  the  victory  of 
Yorktown.  And  while  they  commemorate  those  who 
have  lived  through  singular  sufferings,  —  as  those  honora- 
ble personages,  a  Lovel,  a  Laurens,  and  a  Gadsden,  —  the 
names  of  the  illustrious  martyr-generals,  Warren,  Mercer, 
Montgomery,  De  Kalb,  Wooster,  Thomas,  with  a  Polaski, 
and  others,  will  be  recorded  as  heroically  faUing  in  these 
wars  of  the  Lord.  But  I  may  not  enlarge,  save  only  that 
we  drop  a  tear,  or  rather  showers  of  tears,  upon  the  graves 
of  those  other  brave  officers  and  soldiers  that  fell  in  battle, 
or  otherwise  perished  in  the  war.  "O  that  my  head 
were  waters,  and  my  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,"  that  I  might 
weep  the  thousands  of  our  brethren  that  have  perished  in 
prison-ships,  —  in  one  of  which,  the  Jersey^  then  lying  at 
New  York,  perished  above  eleven  thousand  the  last  three 
years,  —  while  others  have  been  barbarously  exiled  to  the 
East  Indies  for  life.  Come,  mourn  with  me,  all  ye  tender 
parents  and  friends,  the  fate  of  your  dear — dear —  But 
these  scenes  are  too  tender  and  distressing.  Can  we  ever 
love  Britain  again  ?  Can  the  tender,  affectionate  fathers 
and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  —  can  the  numerous  be- 
moaning friends  and  relatives,  and,  perhaps,  the  espoused 
bosoms  of  the  tender  sex,  —  can  they,  I  say,  ever  forget 
the  cruel  mockings,  scourgings,  starvations,  deaths,  assas- 
sinations of  their  dearest  offspring  and  connections  in 
British  captivity  ?  Can  they  forget  the  numerous  thou- 
sands of  their  captivated  countrymen  instantly  consigned 
to  destruction,  to  dungeons,  prisons,  places  of  variolous 
infection  and  certain  death?  Will  they  be  soothed  by 
telling  them  this  is  the  fate  of  war?  As  well  may  inquisi- 
torial cruelties  be  soothed  by  alleging  they  are  salutary 


452 


corrections,  and  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  church. 
Our  enemies  took  occasion  from  this  fate  of  war  to  reek 
their  vengeance,  and  to  lash  us  with  a  severity  too  unmer- 
ciful ever  to  be  forgotten.  Can  we  forget  the  conflagra- 
tions of  Charlestown,  Norfolk,  Esopus,  Fairfield,  and  other 
American  towns,  laid  in  ashes  by  a  Tryon  and  other  incen- 
diaries?^ Were  these  the  kindnesses  American  brethren 
received  from  the  hands  of  Britons  and  their  more  cruel 
associates  the  Indians  and  loyalists?  Can  we  forget  the 
barbarous  tragedy  of  Colonel  Haine,  or  the  murder  of 
Captain  Huddy,  in  violation  of  the  most  sacred  laws  of 
war  and  of  national  honor?  Blush,  O  Britain,  for  the 
stain  of  your  national  glory  !  Can  we  ever  forget  with 
what  cruel  and  malicious  delight  they  tortured,  entowered, 
and  insulted  an  American  plenipotentiary,  —  the  illustri- 
ous Laurens,  —  although  by  the  laws  of  honor  and  nations 
the  person  of  an  ambassador  is  sacred  ?  Can  we  ever 
forget  the  cruel  and  infamous  treatment  of  the  Honorable 
Mr.  Gadsden  ?  O  Gadsden,^  how  I  reverence  thy  piety, 
thy  firmness  in  captivity,  thine  intrepid  and  uncorrupted 
patriotism,  thine  enlightened  politics,  thy  unremitted  fer- 
vor and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  liberty  !  But  how  painful  is 
it  to  recount  the  even  less  than  ten-thousandth  part  of  the 
series  of  distresses,  the  complicated  woe  and  misery,  that 
make  up  the  system  of  sufl?erings  which  we  have  been 
called  to  endure  in  the  pangs  and  throes  of  the  parturition 
of  emjiire,  in  "  eflfecting  our  glorious  revolution,  in  rescu- 


1  "  Twelve  temples,  or  houses  of  public  worship,  were  burnt  and  demol- 
ished by  the  British,  from  Boston  to  Hudson's  River,  besides  those  burned 
beyond." —  Note  to  the  second  edition,  178-5. —  Ed. 

2  For  an  account  of  the  murder  of  Huddy  by  Tory  refu<?ces,  of  Lord 
Rawdon's  infamy  in  the  execution  of  Colonel  Hayne,  and  of  Governor 
Tryon's  cruelty  to  the  venerable  Gadsden,  see  Lossin^'s  Field  Book  of  the 
RevohKion,  ii.,  3GG,  774,  7G8.  —  Ei>. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       453 

ing  millions  from  the  hand  of  oppression,  and  in  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  great  empire."  " 

The  patriot  army  merits  our  commemoration,  and  so  do 
the  great  characters  in  the  patriotic  Assemblies  and  Con- 
gress. Let  America  never  forget  what  they  owe  to  those 
first  intrepid  defenders  of  her  rights,  the  Honorable  Mr. 
Samuel  Adams,  and  the  Hon.  James  Otis,  Esq. ;  add  to 
these  the  Hon.  Dr.  John  Winthrop,  Hon.  James  Bowdoin, 
Esq.,  who,  with  others,  were  the  marked  objects  of  minis- 
terial vengeance,  who  early  stepped  forth  and  heroically 
withstood  tyranny,  and  alarmed  their  country  with  its 
danger,  while  venal  sycophants  w^ere  lulling  us  to  rest  and 
hushing  us  into  silence.  His  Excellency  Mr.  President 
Randolph  merits  our  grateful  commemoration,  and  so  do 
the  governors  Rutledge,  Ward,  Livingston,  Hoj)kins,  Nash, 
Clinton,  the  Hon.  Messrs.  Wythe,  Dyer,  Sherman,  Pen- 
dleton, Henry,  Ellery,  the  Lees,  President  Huntington, 
Lynch,  Witherspoon,  Wolcott,  Gov.  Paca,  Gov.  Hall,  Law, 
Marchant,  President  McKean,  Ellsworth,  Vandyke,  Jeffer- 
son —  Jefferson,  who  poured  the  soul  of  the  continent  into 
the  monumental  act  of  Independence.  These,  and  other 
worthy  personages  of  this  and  the  other  states,  will  be 
celebrated  in  history  among  the  cardinal  patriots  of  this 
revolution.  All  the  ages  of  man  will  not  obliterate  the 
meritorious  name  of  His  Excellency  Governor  Hancock, 
as  President  of  Congress  at  a  most  critical  era,  nor  the 
meritorious  names  of  that  illustrious  band  of  heroes  and 
compatriots,  those  sensible  and  intrepid  worthies  w^ho, 
with  him,  resolutely  and  nobly  dared,  in  the  face  of  every 
danger,  to  sign  the  glorious  act  of  Independence.  May 
their  names  live,  be  preserved,  and  transmitted  to  posterity 
with  deserved  reputation  and  honor,  through  all  American 

a  General  Wasliiugton's  address  to  the  army,  in  general  orders,  April  19, 1783, 
on  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 


454  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

ages!^  Those  great  civilians  and  ambassadors,  the  illustri- 
ous Franklin,  Adams,  Jay,  and  Laurens,  have  approved 
themselves  equal  to  the  highest  negotiations  in  the  courts 
of  nations,  been  faithful  to  their  country's  liberties,  and,  by 
their  great  and  eminent  services,  have  justly  merited  to 
have  their  names  sent  forward  to  immortality  in  history 
with  renown  and  unsullied  glory. 

Great  and  extensive  will  be  the  happy  effects  of  this 
warfare,  in  which  we  have  been  called  in  Providence  to 
fight  out  not  the  liberties  of  America  only,  but  the  liber- 
ties of  the  world  itself  The  spirited  and  successful  stand 
which  we  have  made  against  tyranny  will  prove  the  salva- 
tion of  England  and  Ireland,  and,  by  teaching  all  sovereigns 
the  danger  of  irritating  and  trifling  with  the  affections  and 
loyalty  of  their  subjects,  introduce  clemency,  moderation, 
and  justice  into  public  government  at  large  through  Europe. 
Already  have  we  learned  Ireland  and  other  nations  the 
road  to   liberty,  the  way  to  a  redress  of  grievances,  by 


tt  John  Hancock. 

New  Hampshire. —Josiah  Bartlett,  William  Whipple,  Matthew  Thornton. 

Massachusetts  Bay. —  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  Kobert  Treat  Paine, 
Elbridge  Gerry. 

Rhode  Island.  —  Stephen  Hopkins,  William  Ellery. 

Connecticut.  —  Roger  Sherman,  Samuel  Huntington,  William  Williams, 
Oliver  Wolcott. 

New  York.  —  William  Floyd,  Philip  Livingston,  Francis  Lewis,  Lewis 
Morris. 

New  Jersey.  —  Richard  Stockton,  John  Witherspoon,  Francis  Hopkinson, 
John  Hart,  Abraham  Clark. 

Pennsylvania.  —  Robert  Morris,  Benjamin  Rush,  Benjamin  Franklin,  John 
Morton,  George  Clymer,  James  Smith,  George  Taylor,  James  Wilson,  George 
Ross. 

Delaware.  —  Caesar  Rodney,  George  Read. 

Maryland.  —  Samuel  Chace,  William  Paca,  Thomas  Stone,  Charles  Carroll 
(of  Ciirrollton). 

Virginia  — George  Wythe,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  Thomas  Nelson,  Jr.,  Francis  Lightf'oot  Lee,  Carter  Braxton. 

NoiiTH  Carolina.  —  William  Hooper,  Joseph  Hewes,  Joiin  I'eun. 

South  Va  kolina.  —  Edward  Rutledge,  Thomas  Hey  ward,  Jr.,  Thomas  Lynch, 
Jr.,  Arthur  Middleton. 

Georgia.  —Button  Gwinnett,  Lyman  Hall,  George  Walton. 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.        455 

open,  systematical  rneasnres,  Committees  of  Correspond- 
ence,^ and  military  discipline  of  an  armed  people.  Ireland 
has  become  gloriously  independent  of  England.^  Nor  will 
the  spirit  rest  till  Scotland  becomes  independent  also.  It 
would  be  happier  for  the  three  kingdoms  to  subsist  with 
parliaments  and  national  councils  independent  of  one 
another,  although  confederated  under  one  monarch.  The 
union  of  1707  has  produced  the  loss  and  dismemberment 
of  America.^  It  is  just  possible  that  within  this  age  some 
ill-fated  counsellor  of  another  connection  might  have  arisen 
and  j^rompted  Majesty  and  Parliament  to  sanguinary  meas- 
ures against  America ;  but  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
their  enforcement  would  have  been  deferred,  or  procrasti- 
nated a  century  hence,  or  to  a  period  when  our  accumu- 
lated population  would  have  dictated  wiser,  milder  meas- 
ures to  the  British  court ;  and  so  America,  by  a  gentle, 
fraternal  connection,  would  have  remained  cemented 4  to 


1  See  pp.  44,  191,  199.  — Ed. 

2  January  1,  1800,  ended  that  independence,  and  was  the  date  of  the 
legislative  union  between  England  and  Ireland.  —  Ed. 

3  The  intensity  of  Dr.  Stiles's  detestation  of  the  two  Scotchmen,  Bute 
and  Murray,  —  which  led  him  to  say  that  the  "  union"  of  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land in  1707  "  has  produced  the  loss  and  dismemberment  of  America," 
probably  because,  by  that  union,  the  Scotch  statesmen,  hated  for  their 
arbitrary  principles,  were  eligible  to  the  English  councils,  —  affords  an 
amusing  parallel  to  Dr.  Johnson's  inveterate  prejudice  against  the  Scotch. 
In  his  dictionary  the  Doctor  defines  oats  as  "  a  grain  Avhich  in  England  is 
generally  given  to  horses,  but  in  Scotland  supports  the  people."  Bute 
was  believed  to  be,  by  his  personal  influence,  the  evil  genius  of  George  III. 
and  of  England,  and  was  profoundly  hated  there  as  well  as  in  America; 
and  the  jurist  Murray  —  Lord  Mansfield  —  upheld  the  worst  measures 
against  America.  Yet  both  were  exemplary  in  private  life.  See  pp.  09,  70, 
86,  102,  108,  301,  343.—  Ed. 

*  The  pathos  with  which  Dr.  Stiles  speaks  of  "  the  painful  and  distress- 
ing separation  and  dismemberment"  from  the  mother  country,  and  his 
vehement  denunciation  of  the  "  demon"  Bute,  do  not  exaggerate  the 
loyal  temper  of  our  fathers.    They  would  have  then  been  content  with 


456  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    17&3, 


Britain  for  distant  ages.  But  a  Rehoboam  counsellor 
stepped  in,  et  actum  est  de  repuhlica  —  the  Ten  Tribes  are 
lost.^  Had  it  not  been  for  the  insidious  and  hauglity 
counsels  of  a  Bute  and  a  Mansfield,  imbued  with  principles 
incompatible  with  liberty,  with  the  unwieldy  faction  of 
their  despotic  connections  in  the  empire,  America  and 
Ireland  had  remained  united  with  Britain  to  this  day. 
Chagrined  and  mortified  by  the  defeat  and  dishonor 
brought  upon  them  by  Butean  counsels  and  dominion, 
as  well  as  with  their  own  curtailed  and  unequal  w^eight 
in  Parliament,  Scotland,  emulous  of  the  glory  of  Ireland, 

half  the  rights  which  the  present  British  American  Provinces  enjoy.  But 
the  blindness  of  Governor  Hutchinson  to  the  character  of  his  countrymen, 
and  the  consequent  false  impressions  he  gave  to  the  British  cabinet,  the 
miserable  weakness  of  Gage  and  Howe  at  Boston,  and  the  madness  of  the 
king  in  forcing  the  colonies  to  union,  show  the  providential  government 
of  God,  and  that  his  time  for  this  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  human, 
society  was  now  come.  —  Ed. 

1  To  the  second  edition,  1785,  the  author  here  made  this  prophetic  note: 
"  And  very  soon  will  Bengal  and  the  East  Indies  be  lost  and  delivered 
from  the  cruelty  and  injustice  of  British  government  there.  This  will 
speedily  be  the  fruit  of  Great  Britain's  departing  from  the  commercial  to 
the  governmental  idea  concerning  the  East.  The  conflagrating  and  plun- 
dering qualities  of  a  Clive,  and  the  absurd  haughtiness  of  the  subsequent 
dominion,  will  at  length  rouse  the  spirit  of  those  populous  parts  of  the 
oriental  empires,  having  learned  the  use  of  artillery  and  the  European 
modes  of  war,  to  make  one  vigorous  exertion  and  shake  off  this  foreign 
yoke.  It  is  not  within  the  compass  of  human  probability  —  it  is  absurd 
and  absolutely  impossible  —  that  fifteen  millions  of  people  should  long 
continue  subjugated  to  the  government  of  five  or  six  million  at  the  dis- 
tance of  half  the  circumference  of  the  globe.  This  event  may  be  acceler- 
ated by  the  necessary  tripartite  division  of  the  navy  in  the  oriental  and 
Atlantic  oceans.  The  union  of  European  nations  cannot  fail  of  taking 
advantage  of  the  future  comparative  weakness  of  British  strength  arisuig 
from  this  division.  Too  soon,  alas!  may  Britain,  with  both  wings  loi)pcd 
off,  the  East  Indies  and  America,  exhibit  the  spectacle  among  nations 
described  by  the  Franklinean  emblem  of  Magna  Britannia  with  her  colo- 
nies reduced.  One  cannot  refrain  from  tears  at  contemplating  the  fate  of 
nations,  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires." — Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   457 

will  wish  for  and  obtain  a  dissolution  of  the  union,  and 
resume  a  separate  sovereignty.  It  must  be  the  lenity,  the 
wisdom,  the  gentle  and  pacific  measures  of  an  Augustan 
age  that  can  conserve  the  remnant  of  the  British  empire 
from  this  tripartite  division. 

Kor  will  the  British  isles  alone  be  relieved  into  liberty, 
but  more  extensive  still  will  be  the  peaceable  fruits  of  our 
righteous  conflict.  The  question  of  the  mare  liherum  and 
the  mare  clausum,  heretofore  discussed  by  the  ablest 
civilians  of  the  last  century,  will  no  more  require  the 
learned  labors  of  a  Milton,  a  Selden,  a  Grotius.  This  war 
has  decided,  not  by  ihejits  maritimum  of  Rhodes,  Oleron, 
or  Britain,  but  on  the  principles  of  commercial  utility  and 
public  right,  that  the  navigation  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
shall  be  free ;  and  so  probably  will  be  that  of  all  the 
oceans  of  the  terraqueous  globe.  All  the  European  pow- 
ers will  henceforth,  from  national  and  commercial  interests, 
naturally  become  a  united  and  combined  guaranty  for  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Atlantic  and  free  commerce  with 
America.  Interest  will  establish  a  free  access  of  all  na- 
tions to  our  shores,  and  for  us  to  all  nations.  The  armed 
neutrality^  will  disarm  even  war  itself  of  hostilities  against 

1  The  authorship  of  this  confederacy,  which  destroyed  Britain's  long- 
established  sovereignty  of  the  ocean,  and  greatly  contributed  to  the  ulti- 
mate independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  is  attributed  to 
several  persons.  1.  Mr.  William  Lee,  of  Virginia,  a  merchant  in  London, 
and  some  time  agent  of  Congress  at  Vienna  and  Berlin  during  the  war  of 
the  Revolution,  wrote,  December  10,  1780,  to  Governor  Lee,  of  Maryland : 
"  I  feel  no  little  pleasure  in  communicating  to  you  the  completion,  so  far, 
of  this  confederacy,  as  the  first  traces  were  laid  by  myself  two  years  ago;  and 
if  Congress  had  now  in  Europe  ministers  properly  authorized  to  negotiate 
with  the  powers  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  obtain  a  general  acknowledg- 
ment from  them  of  the  independence  of  America,  which  was  my  ultimate 
object  informing  the  outlines  of  this  scheme!  " —  Sec  letter  in  National  Intelli- 
gencer, August  23,  1859.  2.  Mr.  John  Adams  —  diary,  December  21,  1782 
—  heard  the  King  of  Sweden  named  as  "  the  first  inventor  and  suggester 

39 


458  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,    1783. 

trade  —  will  form  a  new  chapter  in  the  laws  of  nations, 
and  preserve  a  free  commerce  among  powers  at  war. 
Fighting  armies  will  decide  the  fate  of  empires  by  the 
sword,  without  inteiTupting  the  civil,  social,  and  commer- 
cial intercourse  of  subjects.  The  want  of  anything  to  take 
will  prove  a  natural  abolition  of  privateering,  when  the 
property  shall  be  covered  with  neutral  protection.  Even 
the  navies  will,  within  a  century,  become  useless.  A  gen- 
erous and  truly  liberal  system  of  national  connection,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  plan  conceived  and  nearly  executed  by 
the  great  Henry  IV.  of  France,*  will  almost  annihilate 
war  itself. 

We   shall  have  a  communication  with  all   nations   in 

■  Sully's  Memoirs.l 

of  the  plan."  3.  On  the  evidence  of  "  documents  in  mv  possession,"  says 
Mr.  George  Sumner,  in  his  oration,  Boston,  July  4th,  1859,  "  I  here  render 
the  honor"  of  the  real  authorship  of  the  armed  neutrality  to  Florida 
Banca,  the  minister  of  Spain.  The  official  documents  are  in  Anderson's 
Commerce,  vi.  302-375,  400,  edit.  1790.  The  universal  terror  from  British 
privateers  was  the  proximate  cause  of  the  league,  and  England's  distress 
the  opportunity.  — Ed, 

1  Bohn's  ed.  of  Sully,  1850,  ii.  p.  235;  iv..  Book  xxx.  This  political 
scheme  for  a  general  council  of  the  Christian  powers  of  Europe  was 
formed  by  Elizabeth  of  England  and  Henry  IV.  of  France.  The  Edict  of 
Nantes  was  intended  as  a  part  of  the  grand  design.  A  senate,  of  about 
Bixty-six  commissioners,  or  plenipotentiaries,  to  be  rechosen  ever>'  three 
years,  from  all  the  governrnents  of  the  Christian  republic,  was  to  be  in 
pennanent  session,  "  to  deliberate  on  any  affairs  which  might  occur,  to 
discuss  the  different  interests,  pacify  the  quarrels,  clear  up  and  determine 
all  the  civil,  political,  and  religious  affairs  of  Europe,  whether  within  itself 
or  with  its  neighbors."  The  scheme  bore  a  strong  reseml)lance  to  the 
American  "  confederation,"  and  was  formed  in  part  on  the  model  of  the 
ancient  Amphictyons  of  Greece,  an  institution  referred  to  by  the  framers 
of  our  own  government.  See  the  "  Federalist."  The  total  exemption  of 
private  property  from  capture  on  the  high  seas,  as  recently  proposed  by 
the  United  States  government  to  European  powers,  would  go  far  to  realize 
the  splendid  prediction  of  the  text,  and,  indeed,  render  "  the  navies 
useless,"  except  for  the  noble  missions  of  humanity,  of  science,  and  of 
national  courtesies.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.        45*.) 

commerce,  manners,  and  science,  beyond  anytliinij^  hereto- 
fore known  in  the  world.  Manufacturers  and  artisans,  and 
men  of  every  description,  may  perhaps  come  and  settle 
among  us.  They  will  be  few  indeed  in  comparison  with 
the  annual  thousands  of  our  natural  increase,  and  will  be 
incorporated  with  the  prevailing  hereditary  complexion 
of  the  first  settlers;  — we  shall  not  be  assimilated  to  them, 
but  they  to  us,  especially  in  the  second  and  third  genera- 
tions.^ This  fermentation  and  communion  of  nations  will 
doubtless  produce  something  very  new,  singular,  and  glo- 
rious. Upon  the  conquest  of  Alexander  the  Great,  statu- 
ary, painting,  architecture,  philosophy,  and  the  fine  arts 
were  transplanted  in  pei'fection  from  Athens  to  Tarsus, 
from  Greece  to  Syria,  where  they  immediately  flourished 
in  even  greater  perfection  than  in  the  parent  state.  Not 
in  Greece  herself  are  there  to  be  found  specimens  of  a 
sublimer  or  more   magnificent   architecture,  even  in   the 

1  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  says  that  in  1696,  in  all  New  England,  there  were 
one  hundred  thousand  souls.  Dr.  Franklin  thought  that,  of  the  one 
million  English  souls  in  North  America  in  1751,  not  eighty  thousand 
"  had  been  brought  over  sea."  Dr.  Stiles,  in  17G0,  estimated  the  inhabi- 
tants of  New  England  at  half  a  million ;  and  Mr.  Savage,  in  the  Preface 
of  his  Genealogical  Dictionary,  supposes  that  ninetccn-twcntieths  of  the 
people  of  the  New  England  colonics  in  1775  were  descendants  of  those 
here  in  1692,  and  that  probably  seven-eighths  of  them  were  offspring  of 
the  first  settlers,  and  originating  from  England  proper.  He  adds:  "A 
more  homogeneous  stock  cannot  be  seen,  I  think,  in  any  so  extensive 
region,  at  any  time  since  that  when  the  Ark  of  Noah  discharged  its  pas- 
sengers on  Mount  Ararat,  except  in  the  few  centuries  elapsing  before  the 
confusion  of  Babel."  In  an  elaborate  paper  read  before  the  American 
Statistical  Association,  in  March,  1&')9,  by  the  President,  Edward  Jarvis, 
M.  D.,  it  appears,  as  the  result  of  long  and  minute  calculation,  based  upon 
the  best  avaihible  data,  that  the  total  persons  of  New  England  origin 
living  in  the  United  States,  in  1850,  including  the  natives  and  those  born 
abroad  since  1790,  was  4,021,192,  and  that  nearly  or  quite  one-third  of 
the  native  white  population  have  New  England  blood  in  their  veins.  This 
confinns  Mr.  Bancroft's  estimate.  —  Ed. 


460  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,   1783. 

Grecian  style,  than  in  the  ruins  of  Baalbec  and  Pa]m}Ta. 
So  all  the  arts  may  be  transplanted  from  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  flourish  in  America  with  an  augmented  lustre,  not  to 
mention  the  augment  of  the  sciences  from  American  in- 
ventions and  discoveries,  of  which  there  have  been  as 
capital  ones  here,^  the  last  half  century,  as  in  all  Europe.^ 


a  American  Inventio>'8.  —  1730,  Reflecting  Quadrant  [commonly  called 
Hadley's],  by  Mr.  Thos.  Godfry,  at  Thiladelphia;  1731,  Mercurial  Inoculation, 
by  Dr.  Muirson;  1750,  Electrical  Pointed  Rods,  by  Dr.  Franklin;  [1755,  Terres- 
trial Comets,  by  President  Clap;]  1762,  Sand-Iron,  by  Dr.  Jared  Elliot;  1769, 
Quantity  of  Matter  in  Comets,  by  Professor  Winthrop ;  [1776,  Submarine  Navi- 
gation by  tbe  power  of  the  Screw,  by  Mr.  Bushnel.]  l 

1  The  parts  within  [  ]  were  added  in  the  second  edition,  1785.  —  Ed. 

2  "  Credat  qui  vult ! "  exclaimed  a  listener,  when,  with  his  masterly 
survey  of  the  elements  of  empire  and  their  potential  future,  the  wise  man 
in  the  pulpit  opened  his  grand  and  comprehensive  vision  of  "  The  United 
States  elevated  to  Glory  and  Honor,"  and  of  the  national  mission  of  good- 
will to  men;  yet  some,  even  of  that  generation,  live  to  contrast  the  epoch 
of  the  nation's  beginning  —  its  three  millions  of  inhabitants,  scattered 
along  the  Atlantic  border  —  with  our  present  recognized  position  as  "  the 
greatest  maritime  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  The  country  was  for 
many  years  embarrassed  with  the  war  debt,  less  in  amount  than  our 
present  annual  national  expenditure.  Populous  inland  states,  cities,  and 
commerce,  before  whose  statistics  the  national  figures  of  17^  dwindle  to 
fractions,  now  press  fast  towards  the  Pacific,  through  whose  "  golden 
gate"  floats  a  commerce  exceeding  the  grand  total  when  Washington 
became  President,  and  whose  senators  are  in  the  capitol. 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

Indeed,  there  were  then  living,  sons  of  America,  Fitch,  in  manhood,  and 
Fulton,  in  youth,  the  inventors  of  steam  navigation,  whose  genius  was  to 
span  oceans,  and  unite  continents  as  with  a  bridge,  and  make  highways  of 
rivers;  and  now  Ericsson  has  revolutionized  the  marine  of  the  world. 
Whitney,  then  a  youth,  was  to  create,  by  his  cotton-gin,  the  chief  staple  of 
southci-n  agriculture,  and  the  principal  even  of  England's  manufactures; 
Bowditch,  then  in  boyhood,  was  to  rank  with  the  great  mathematicians 
and  astronomers.  The  elder  Edwards,  the  intellectual  chief  of  his  age,  Avho 
"ranks  with  the  brightest  luminaries  of  the  Christian  church,  not  excluding 
any  country  or  any  age  since  the  apostolic,"  and  "  as  much  the  boast  of 
America  as  liis  great  countryman,  Franklin;  "  Webster,  the  great  lexicog- 


THE    FUTURE    GLORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.       461 

The  rough,  sonorous  diction  of  the  English  language 
may  here  take  its  Athenian  polish,  and  receive  its  attic 
urbanity,  as  it  will  probably  become  the  vernacular  tongue 
of  more  numerous  millions  than  ever  yet  spake  one  lan- 
guage on  earth.  It  may  continue  for  ages  to  be  the  pre- 
vailing  and  general  language  of  North  America.^     The 

rapher,  who  has  no  rival  but  Worcester,  another  of  New  England's  sons ; 
Irving,  then  in  arms,  preeminent  in  modern  literature;  and,  in  later  times, 
Allibone,  of  equal  rank  in  critical  bibliography;  Prescott,  Sparks,  Bancroft, 
Hildreth,  Motley,  in  history;  Bryant,  Whittier,  and  Longfellow,  in  poetry; 
Copley,  West,  Stuart,  Trumbull,  AUston,  Cole,  Church,  and  Hosmer,  among 
the  masters  in  modern  art;  Maun  and  Barnard,  in  education;  Lyndhurst, 
twice  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  Marshall,  Jay,  Parsons,  Story,  and 
Kent,  in  jui-ispnidence;  Morse  and  Jackson,  whose  electric  wire,  "beat- 
ing with  the  pulse  of  humanity,"  unites  cities,  kingdoms,  and  continents, 
annihilating  time  and  space;  Jackson,  Wells,  Morton,  whose  splendid 
discovery  of  anaesthetics  is  recognized  by  the  world  as  one  of  the  greatest 
boons  given  by  any  age  to  suffering  humanity;  Agassiz,  the  chief  natu- 
ralist of  the  age,  abiding  with  us;  Draper,  the  accomplished  delegate  of 
American  science  at  the  British  Association  at  Oxford;  and  Jarvis,  the 
eminent  statistician,  representing  his  country  with  distinguished  honor  in 
the  International  Statistical  Congress  at  London  in  18G0;  —  these,  and  many 
others,  have  already  placed  the  United  States  in  the  front  rank  in  science, 
letters,  and  art.  —  Ed. 

1  The  reader  will  be  glad  to  compare  the  profound  views  presented  by 
Dr.  Stiles  with  the  observations  of  a  late  able  writer,  who  thinks  that 
"  the  physical  character  of  our  own  ten-itory  is  such  as  to  encourage  tho 
hope  that  our  speech,  which,  if  not  absolutely  homogeneous,  is  now  em- 
ployed by  twenty -five  millions  of  men  in  one  unbroken  mass,  Avith  a  uni- 
formity of  which  there  is  perhaps  no  other  example,  will  escape  that 
division  which  has  shattered  some  languages  of  the  Old  World  into  frag- 
ments, like  those  of  the  confusion  of  Babel.  The  geogr-aphy  of  the  United 
States  presents  few  localities  suited  to  human  habitation  that  are  at  the 
same  time  inaccessible  to  modern  improved  modes  of  communication. 
The  carriage7road,  the  railway,  the  telegraph,  the  mails,  the  newspaper, 
penetrate  to  every  secluded  nook,  address  themselves  to  every  free  in- 
habitant, and  speak  everywhere  one  and  the  same  dialect.  Why  or  how 
external  physical  causes,  as  climate  and  modes  of  life,  should  affect 
pronunciation,  we  cannot  say;  but  it  is  evident  that  material  influences 
of  some  sort  are   producing  a  change   on   our  bodily  constitution,  and 

39* 


462  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

intercommunion  of  the  Fnited  States  with  all  the  world 
in  travels,  trade,  and  politics,  and  the  infusion  of  letters 
into  our  infancy,  will  probably  preserve  us  from  the  pro- 
vincial dialects,  risen  into  inexterminable  habit  before  the 
invention  of  printing.  The  Greek  never  became  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Alexandrian,  nor  the  Turkish  of  the  Otto- 
man conquests,  nor  yet  the  Latin  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. The  Saracenic  conquests  have  already  lost  the  pure 
and  elegant  Arabic  of  the  Koreish  tribe,  or  the  family  of 
Ishmael,  in  the  corrupted  dialects  of  Egypt,  Syria,  Persia, 
and  Indostan.  Different  from  these,  the  English  language 
will  grow  up  with  the  present  American  population  into 
great  purity  and  elegance,  unmutilated  by  the  foreign  dia- 
lects of  foreign  conquests.  And  in  this  connection  I  may 
observe  with  pleasure  how  God,  in  his  providence,  has 
ordered  that,  at  the  Reformation,  the  English  translation 
of  the  Bible  should  be  made  with  very  great  accuracy 
—  with  greater  accuracy,  it  is  presumed,  than  any  other 
translation.  This  is  said,  allowing  that  some  texts  admit 
of  correction.  I  have  compared  it  throughout  with  the 
originals,  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Syriac,  and  beg  leave  to 
judge  and  testify  it  to  be  a  very  excellent  translation.^ 

we  are  just  acquiring  a  distinct  national  character.  That  the  delicate 
organs  of  articulation  should  participate  in  such  tendencies  is  alto- 
gether natural;  and  the  operation  of  the  causes  which  gave  rise  to 
them  is  palpable  even  in  our  handwriting,  which,  if  not  uniform  with 
itself,  is  generally,  nevertheless,  so  much  unlike  common  English  script 
as  to  be  readily  distinguished  from  it."  —  Geo.  P.  Marsh,  Lecture  xxx.. 
The  English  Language  in  America.  —  Ed. 

1  The  following  decided  language  from  one  of  our  most  distinguished 
scholars  and  philologists  embodies,  it  may  be  presumed,  the  opinion  of 
the  great  body  of  competent  Greek  and  Hebrew  scholars,  and  would 
probably  be  affirmed  by  the  American  and  British  Bible  Societies  as  the 
result  of  their  observation.  The  revision  of  1611  is,  and  seems  likely  to 
remain,  in  its  strength  and  beauty,  the  standard.  "  I  do  not  hesitate," 
says  Mr.  Marsh,  "  to  avow  my  conviction,  that  if  any  body  of  scholars  of 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES.   468 

Kor  do  I  believe  a  better  is  ever  to  be  expected  in  this 
imperfect  state.  It  sustained  a  revision  of  numerous 
translators,  from  Tyndal  to  the  last  review  by  the  bishops 
and  other  learned  divines  in  the  time  of  James  I.,  one 
hundred  and  eighty  years  ago,  and  has  never  been  altered 
since.^  It  may  have  been  designed  by  Providence  for  the 
future  perusal  of  more  millions  of  the  human  race  than 
ever  were  able  to  read  one  book,  and  for  their  use  to  the 
millennial  ages. 

This  great  American  Revolution,  this  recent  political 
phenomenon  of  a  new  sovereignty  arising  among  the 
sovereign  powers  of  the  earth,  will  be  attended  to  and 
contemplated  by  all  nations.  Navigation  will  carry  the 
American  flag  around  the  globe  itself,  and  display  the 
thirteen  stripes  and  new  constellation  at  Bengal  and  Can- 
ton,^ on  the  Indus  and  Ganges,  on  the  Whang-ho  and  the 

a  Vid.  Lewis's  Hist.  Transl.  Bib. 

competent  Greek  and  Hebrew  learning  were  now  (1860)  to  undertake,  not 
a  revision  of  the  existing  version,  but  a  new  translation,  founded  on  the 
principle  of  employing  the  correct  phraseology  of  the  day,  it  would  be 
found  much  less  intelligible  to  the  mass  of  English-speaking  people  than 
the  standard  version  at  this  moment  is ; "  and  that  to  "  hope  of  finding 
within  the  compass  of  the  English  language  a  clearer,  a  more  appropri- 
ate, or  a  more  forcible  diction  than  that  of  the  standard  version,  is  to  be- 
tray an  ignorance  of  the  capabilities  of  our  native  speech  with  which  it 
would  be  in  vain  to  reason ;  "  and  "  that  as  there  is  no  present  necessity 
for  a  revision,  so  is  there  no  possibility  of  executing  a  revision  in  any 
way  that  would  be,  or  ought  to  be,  satisfactory  to  even  one  Protestant 
sect,  still  less  to  the  whole  body  of  English-speaking  Protestants."  —  Lec- 
tures on  the  English  Language,  Lecture  xxviii.,  by  Geo.  P.  Marsh.  —  Ed. 
1  To  the  second  edition,  1785,  the  author  added  this  note :  "  Since  the 
first  edition,  in  1783,  this  voyage  has  been  happily  performed,  for  the  first 
time,  in  about  fourteen  months,  by  the  Empress  of  China,  a  ship  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty  tons,  John  Green,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  commander.  She 
sailed  from  New  York  Feb.  22,  1784,  arrived  at  Canton,  in  China,  Aug.  30, 
departed  thence  Dec.  27,  on  her  return,  and  aiTived  safe  at  New  York,  May 
11,  178.3,  with  the  loss  of  but  one  man  in  the  whole  voyage.    And  Aug.  9, 


464  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

Yang-tse-kiang,  and  with  commerce  will  import  the  wis- 
dom and  literature  of  the  East.  That  prophecy  of  Daniel 
is  now  literally  fulfilling  —  n^-nn  n^^p^  d^a^  rj-ji::^  —  there 
shall  be  a  universal  travelling  to  and  fro,  and  knowl- 
edge shall  be  increased.  This  knowledge  will  be  brought 
home  and  treasured  up  in  America,  and,  being  here  di- 
gested and  carried  to  the  highest  perfection,  may  reblaze 
back  from  America  to  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  illu- 
mine the  world  with  truth  and  liberty. 

That  great  civilian  Dr.  John  Adams,  the  learned  and 
illustrious  American  ambassador,  observes  thus:""  "But 
the  great  designs  of  Providence  must  be  accomplished  ;  — 
great  indeed !  The  progress  of  society  will  be  accelerated 
by  centuries  by  this  Revolution.  The  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many is  adopting,  as  fast  as  he  can,  American  ideas  of 
toleration  and  religious  liberty;  and  it  will  become  the 
fashionable  system  of  Europe  very  soon.^    Light  spreads 

a  Lett.  Dec.  18, 1781. 

1785,  the  ship.  Pallas,  Capt.  John  O'Donnel,  arrived  at  Baltimore  from 
China.  She  left  Macao,  in  Canton,  the  20th  of  January  preceding.  This 
was  the  second  East  India  ship  from  China  to  America.  The  same  month 
of  Aug.,  1785,  a  Swedish  ship  arrived  also  at  Baltimore  from  Calcutta,  in 
the  East  Indies.  This  is  the  third  East  India  ship  which  arrived  in  Amer- 
ica in  the  year  1785." — Ed. 

1  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria  thought  the  cause  of  George  III.,  against  the 
colonies,  to  be  "  the  cause  of  all  sovereigns,"  and  had  "  a  high  esteem  for 
his  Majesty's  principles  of  government."  She  died  November  29,  1780, 
and  was  succeeded  by  her  son,  Joseph  II.,  then  in  his  fortieth  year.  He 
used  his  despotic  power  with  a  wisdom  and  singularity  that  startled  Eu- 
rope. He  ordered  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  to  be  made  in  the  Ger- 
man tongue,  established  a  free  press,  the  equality  of  all  Christian  denom- 
inations, abolished  the  priestly  censorship  of  books,  which  had  been  so 
rigorous  "  that  on  subjects  of  religion,  morality,  and  government,  a  valu- 
able and  a  prohibited  publication  were  almost  synonymous  terms," 
founded  public  libraries,  established  educational  institutions,  abolished 
feudal  slavery,  and  labored  to  educate  and  elevate  his  people.  So  precip- 
itate and  radical  were  his  innovations,  so  fatal  were  they  to  superstition 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   465 

from  the  day-spring  in  the  west ;  and  may  it  shine  more 
and  more  until  the  perfect  day."  So  spreading  may  be 
the  spirit  for  the  restoration  and  recovery  of  long-lost 
national  rights,  that  even  the  Cortes  of  Spain  may  reexist, 

and  mental  and  moral  darkness,  that  Pius  VI.,  old  and  feeble,  made  a 
winter  journey,  in  February,  1782,  to  Vienna,  to  remonstrate  against  them, 
but  in  vain.  At  the  accession  of  Joseph  11.  the  United  States  government 
was  seeking  European  alliances.  Their  history  and  principles  became 
familiar  to  the  statesmen  and  leading  minds  of  Europe.  Our  minister, 
John  Adams,  published  at  Leydcn,  in  April,  1781,  his  eloquent  "  Memo- 
rial "  of  their  claim  to  respect  and  consideration,  and  in  February,  1782, 
he  wi-ote  to  his  government  that  it  had  been  translated  and  "  inserted  in 
almost  every  gazette  in  Europe;"  that  the  King  of  Sweden  had  quoted 
its  "  very  words"  in  his  public  answer  and  reproach  to  George  III. ;  that 
Joseph  11.  had  desired  an  interview  with  its  author,  and,  "  what  is  more 
remarkable,  has  adopted  the  sentiment  of  it  concerning  religious  liberty 
into  a  code  of  laws  for  his  dominions,  —  the  greatest  effort  in  favor  of 
humanity,  next  to  the  American  Revolution,  which  has  been  produced  in 
the  eighteenth  century." 

The  Revolution  raised  Ireland  to  the  position  of  a  kingdom,  and  the 
contagion  of  its  republican  principles  was  felt  throughout  Europe.  The 
French  nobles,  Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  D'Estaing,  Lausun,  and  others, 
conveyed  to  their  own  country  the  popular  sympathies  and  principles  for 
which  they  had  fought  in  America,  and  thus  gave  an  impulse  to  the  Rev- 
olution in  France. 

Historians  and  philosophers  regard  the  American  Revolution  as  the 
great  epoch  in  the  modern  history  of  human  society  —  of  the  world ;  as 
"  commencing  a  new  series  of  human  history,  a  new  system  of  political 
relations,  which  must  involve  in  its  combinations  all  the  countries  of  the 
earth." 

Washington  stands  out  to  the  world  as  the  grandest  object  of  contem- 
plation, the  Father  of  the  Republic  to  which  is  confided  the  great  problem 
of  popular  government,  of  the  broadest  Christian  freedom,  and  towards 
which  the  genius  of  liberty  ever  looks  with  hope,  yet  with  solicitude ;  for 
whose  prosperity  the  nations  pray,  as  for  one  whose  calamity  will  be  the 
despair  of  humanity,  and  the  triumph  only  of  him  who  would  destroy  the 
image  of  God  in  man.  How  exalted  the  trust,  how  momentous  the  con- 
duct of  the  American  citizen!  — Coxe's  "House  of  Austria,"  Bohn's  ed., 
chap,  cxxiv. ;  "Life  and  "Works  of  John  Adams,"  1852,  vii,,  404,  525, 
527;  Miller's  PhUosophy  of  History,  ed.  1854,  145-147,  178,  181, 185,  186. 
—  Ed. 


466  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783 


and  resume  their  ancient  splendor,  authority,  and  control 
of  royalty.*  The  same  principles  of  wisdom  and  enlight- 
ened politics  may  establish  rectitude  in  public  government 
throughout  the  world. 

The  most  ample  religious  liberty  will  also  probably 
obtain  among  all  nations.  Benevolence  and  religious 
lenity  are  increasing  among  the  nations.  The  reformed 
in  France,  who  were  formerly  oppressed  with  heavy  per- 
secution, at  present  enjoy  a  good  degree  of  religious  lib- 
erty, though  by  silent  indulgence  only.  A  reestablishment 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  would  honor  the  Grand  Monarch 
by  doing  public  justice  to  a  large  body  of  his  best  and 
most  loyal  subjects.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  last  year 
published  an  imperial  decree  granting  liberty  for  the  free 
and  unmolested  exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion  within 
the  Austrian  territories  and  dominions.*'     The  Inquisition 


a  So  jealous  were  the  Cortes  of  their  liberties,  that  the  states  of  Arragon  in 
particular,  after  sundry  previous  stipulations,  exacted  a  coronation  oath  of  the 
king,  which  was  pronounced  by  the  Justitia  Arragonensis  (who  represented  the 
person  of  the  supreme  power  in  the  state),  a  power  which  they  asserted  to  be 
superior  to  kings,  in  these  words:  Xos  qui  valemos  tanto  comme  vos,  y  podenws 
mas  que  vos,  vos  elegimos  Rey  :  con  estas  y  estas  conditioiies,  intra  vos  y  nos,  un 
que  manda  mas  que  vos.  "  We  who  are  as  powerful  as  you,  and  have  more  au- 
thority than  you,  elect  you  king;  with  the  stipulated  conditions,  between  you 
and  us  there  is  one  (viz.,  the  judiciary)  higher  in  command  than  you."  See  a 
learned  tract,  De  jure  magistratuum  in  subdito  et  oificio  subditorum  erga  magis- 
tratus:  printed  at  Lyons,  1576,  full  of  jural  and  political  erudition,  and,  for  that 
age,  full  of  liberty. 

b  The  order  of  Jesuits,  suppressed  in  rapid  succession  by  the  European  princes, 
1765,  was  finally  abolished,  1773,  by  the  sensible  and  sagacious  Ganganelli,  who 
bid  fairer  to  reunite  the  Protestants,  had  it  been  possible,  than  any  pontiff  since 
the  secession  from  Leo  X.  Nor  can  the  order  be  revived,  nor  the  suppression  of 
religious  houses  in  Spain  and  Austria,  nor  Austrian  liberty,  be  prevented  by  the 
bigoted,  austere  Braschi,  the  present  reigning  pontiff.l 

1  July  21-23,  1773,  Ganganelli,  Clement  XIV.,  "established  by  the  Di- 
vine Providence,  over  kingdoms  and  nations,  in  order  to  pluck  up,  destroy, 
disperse,  dissipate,  plant,  or  nourish,  as  may  best  conduce  to  the  rij^ht 
cultivation  of  the"  papal  hierarchy,  in  his  hull  of  that  date,  said:  "After 
a  mature  deliberation,  we  do,  out  of  our  c^tain  knowledge,  and  the  ful- 
ness of  our  apostolical  power,  suppress  and  aholish.  the  said  comT^a,Tiy,    .    .    . 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.       467 

has  been,  in  effect,  this  year  suppressed  in  Spain,  where 
the  king,  by  an  edict  of  3d  of  November,  1782,  proclaimed 
liberty  for  inhabitants  of  all  religions ;  and,  by  a  happily 
conceived  plan  for  literary  reformation,  the  aurora  of  sci- 
ence will  speedily  blaze  into  meridian  splendor  in  that 
kingdom.  An  emulation  for  liberty  and  science  is  enkin- 
dled among  the  nations,  and  will  doubtless  produce  some- 
thing very  liberal  and  glorious  in  this  age  of  science,  this 
period  of  the  empire  of  reason.^ 

The  United  States  will  embosom  all  the  religious  sects 
or  denominations  in  Christendom.  Here  they  may  all 
enjoy  their  whole  respective  systems  of  worship  and  church 
government  complete.  Of  these,  next  to  the  Presbyteri- 
ans, the  Church  of  England  will  hold  a  distinguished  and 
principal  figure.  They  will  soon  furnish  themselves  with 
a  bishop  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  perhaps  another 

80  that  the  name  of  the  company  shall  be,  and  is,  forever  extinguished 
and  suppressed.  .  .  .  These  our  letters  shall  be  forevei-  and  to  all  eter- 
nity valid,  permanent,  and  efficacious,  .  .  .  observed  by  all  and  every 
whom  they  do  or  may  concern,  now  or  hereafter,  in  any  manner  what- 
ever." The  reason  given  was  that  the  Jesuits  were  an  intolerable  political 
and  moral  curse.  They  had  six  hundred  and  sixty-nine  colleges,  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six  seminaries,  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  missions, 
twenty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-two  members,  scattered 
over  the  world.  August  17,  1814,  another  infallible  Pope,  Pius  VII.,  abro- 
gated the  brief  of  his  infallible  predecessor,  and  reestablished  the  order 
for  political  purposes ;  and  it  now  infests  our  own  country.  The  "  fathers," 
leagued  with  the  Pope's  "  venerable  brothers,  the  archbishops,  bishops," 
priests,  etc.,  and  "liberal  Protestants"  !  aid  and  comfort  these  priestly 
enemies  to  civil  and  religious  liberty  by  money,  pupils,  and  approbation. 
The  policy  of  the  Papal  church  is  to  keep  the  people  in  perpetual  infancy, 
the  sole  basis  of  its  own  existence,  and  of  despotism,  its  natural  result 
and  ally.    See  p.  416.  —  Ed. 

1 1n  the  second  edition,  1785,  the  author  appends  this  note :  "  Justly  may 
we  anticipate  great  alterations  in  society,  and  very  beneficent  improve- 
ments in  the  state  of  mankind,  '  from  the  progressive  refinement  of  man- 
ners, the  growing  liberality  of  sentiment,  and,  above  all,  the  pure  and 
BENIGN  LIGHT  OF  REVELATION.'  —  General  Washington."—  Ed. 


468  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 


to  the  northward,  to  ordain  their  clergy,  give  confirmation, 
superintend  and  govern  their  churches,  —  the  main  body  of 
which  will  be  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  —  besides  a  dia- 
spora or  interspersion  in  all  the  other  states.  The  JJnitas 
Fratrum  for  above  thirty  years  past  have  had  Moravian 
bishops  in  America ;  and  I  think  they  have  three  at  pres- 
ent, though  not  of  local  or  diocesan  jurisdiction,  their 
pastorate  being  the  whole  unity  throughout  the  world. 
In  this  there  ever  was  a  distinction  between  the  Bohemian 
episcopacy  and  that  of  the  eastern  and  western  churches  ; 
for,  in  a  body  of  two  thousand  ancient  Bohemian  churches, 
they  seldom  had  above  two  or  three  bishops.  The  Bap- 
tists, the  Friends,  the  Lutherans,  the  Romanists,  are  all 
considerable  bodies  in  all  their  dispersions  through  the 
states.  The  Dutch  and  Gallic  and  German  Reformed  or 
Calvinistic  churches  among  us  I  consider  as  Presbyterian, 
differing  from  us  in  nothing  of  moment  save  in  language. 
There  is  a  considerable  body  of  these  in  the  states  of  New 
York,  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  at  Ebenezer,  in  Georgia. 
There  is  a  Greek  Church,  brought  from  Smyrna ;  but  I 
think  it  falls  below  these  states.  There  are  Westleians, 
Mennonists,  and  others,  all  which  make  a  very  inconsider- 
able amount  in  comparison  with  those  who  will  give  the 
religious  complexion  to  America,  which  for  the  southern 
parts  will  be  Episcopal,  the  nortliern,  Presbyterian.  All 
religious  denominations  will  be  independent  of  one  an- 
other, as  much  as  the  Greek  and  Armenian  patriarchates 
in  the  East ;  and  having,  on  account  of  religion,  no  supe- 
riority as  to  secular  powers  and  civil  immunities,  they  will 
cohabit  together  in  harmony,  and,  I  hope,  with  a  most 
generous  Catholicism  and  benevolence.^     The  example  of 

1  Of  the  seven  or  cig^ht  denominations  named  bj'Dr.  Stiles,  some  hardly 
survive,  while  others,  as  the  Methodist  and  Baptist,  have  become  numerous. 
Twenty-one  religious  denominations  are  enumerated  in  the  census  of  the 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       469 

a  friendly  cohabitation  of  all  sects  in  America,  proving 
that  men  may  be  good  members  of  civil  society  and  yet 
differ  in  religion,  —  this  precedent,  I  say,  which  has  already 
been  intently  studied  and  contemplated  for  fifteen  years 
past  by  France,  Holland,  and  Germany,  may  have  already 
had  an  effect  in  introducing  moderation,  lenity,  and  justice 
among  European  states.  And  who  can  tell  how  extensive 
a  blessing  this  American  Joseph  may  become  to  the  whole 
human  race,  although  once  despised  by  his  brethren,  exiled, 
and  sold  into  Egypt?  How  applica1)le  that  in  Genesis 
xlix.  22,  26:  "Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough,  even  a  fruitful 
bough  by  a  well ;  whose  branches  run  over  the  wall.  The 
archers  have  sorely  grieved  him,  and  shot  at  him,  and 
hated  him.  But  his  bow  abode  in  strength  ;  the  arms  of 
his  hands  were  made  strong  by  the  arms  of  the  mighty 
God  of  Jacob.  The  blessings  of  thy  father  have  prevailed 
above  the  blessings  of  my  progenitors,  unto  the  utmost 
bound  of  the  everlasting  hill ;  they  shall  be  on  the  head 
of  Joseph,  and  on  the  crown  of  the  head  of  him  that  was 
separated  from  his  brethren." 

Little  would  civilians  have  thought  ages  ago  that  the 
world  should  ever  look  to  America  for  models  of  govern- 

United  States  for  1850,  of  which,  counting  the  Methodist,  Baptist,  Pres- 
byterian, Congregational,  and  Dutch  Reformed,  who  are  named  in  the 
order  of  their  numerical  ratio,  as  of  the  Congregational  type,  there  were 
29,607  churches;  and  of  all  others,  including  Episcopal,  Roman  Catholic, 
Christian,  and  Friends,  8045  churches,  —  an  aggregate  of  37,652  churches, 
—  showing  the  ratio  of  the  former  to  the  whole  as  about  4  to  5.  The 
total  of  church  accommodations  was  14,270,139,  of  which  10,664,656  were  of 
the  Congregational  type  as  above,  and  3,605,483  of  the  others,  — showing 
the  ratio  of  the  former  to  the  whole  as  about  3  to  4,  or  74.6  per  cent,  of 
the  whole.  The  Methodists  had  13,338  churches;  Baptists,  9360;  Congre- 
gationalists,  1706;  Episcopalians,  1461 ;  Roman  Catholics,  1227 ;  Lutherans, 
1221.  They  are  unequally  distributed  over  the  Union,  and  the  relation 
of  denominational  to  moral,  educational,  and  social  statistics  offers  a 
most  inviting  and  instructive  inquiry.  —  Ed. 

40 


470  DR.   STILES'S  ELECTION   SERMON,   1783 


ment  and  polity ;  little  did  they  think  of  finding  this  most 
perfect  polity  among  the  poor  outcasts,  the  contemptible 
people  of  New  England,  and  particularly  in  the  long  de- 
spised civil  polity  of  Connecticut,^  —  a  polity  conceived 
by  the  sagacity  and  wisdom  of  a  "Winthrop,  a  Ludlow, 
Haynes,  Hopkins,  Hooker,  and  the  other  first  settlers  of 
Hartford,  in  1636.  And  while  Europe  and  Asia  may 
hereafter  learn  that  the  most  liberal  principles  of  law 
and  civil  polity  are  to  be  found  on  this  side  the  Atlantic, 
they  may  also  find  the  true  religion  here  depurated  from 
the  rust  and  corruption  of  ages,  and  learn  from  us  to  re- 
form and  restore  the  church  to  its  primitive  purity.  It 
will  be  long  before  the  ecclesiastical  pride  of  the  splendid 
European  hierarchies  can  submit  to  learn  wisdom  from 
those  whom  they  have  been  inured  to  look  upon  with 
sovereign  contempt.  But  candid  and  liberal  disquisition 
will,  sooner  or  later,  have  a  great  efiect.  Removed  from 
the  embarrassments  of  corrupt  systems,  and  the  dignities 
and  blinding  opulence  connected  with  them,  the  unfet- 
tered mind  can  think  with  a  noble  enlargement,  and,  with 
an  unbounded  freedom,  go  wherever  the  light  of  truth 
directs.  Here  will  be  no  bloody  tribunals,  no  cardinal's 
inquisitors-general,  to  bend  the  human  mind,  forcibly  to 
control  the  understanding,  and  put  out  the  light  of  reason, 
the  candle  of  the  Lord,  in  man,  —  to  force  an  innocent 
Galileo  to  renounce  truths  demonstrable  as  the  light  of 
day.  Religion  may  here  receive  its  last,  most  liberal, 
and  impartial  examination.     Religious  liberty  is  peculiarly 

1  "In  a  'Conspectus  of  a  Perfect  Polity/  the  author  has  given  the  out- 
lines of  the  constitution  of  a  commonwealth,  agreeing,  in  its  great  princi- 
ples, with  those  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  indi- 
vidual states.  But  he  maintained  that  a  Christian  state  ought  expressly 
to  acknowledge  and  embosom  in  its  civil  constitution  the  public  avowal  of 
the 'being  of  a  God,'  and 'the  avowal  of  Christianity.'"  —  Kingsley's 
Life  of  Stiles.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       471 

friendly  to  fair  and  generous  disquisition.  Here  Deism 
will  have  its  full  chance ;  nor  need  libertines  more  to 
complain  of  being  overcome  by  any  weapons  but  the  gen- 
tle, the  powerful  ones  of  argument  and  truth.  Revelation 
will  be  found  to  stand  the  test  to  the  ten  thousandth 
examination. 

There  are  three  coetaneous  events  to  take  place,  whose 
futurition  is  certain  from  prophecy,  —  the  annihilation  of 
the  pontificate,^  the  reassembling  of  the  Jews,  and  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Gentiles.  That  liberal  and  candid  disquisition 
of  Christianity  which  will  most  assuredly  take  place  in 
America,  will  prepare  Europe  for  the  first  event,  with 
which  the  other  will  be  connected,  when,  especially  on 
the  return  of  the  Twelve  Tribes  to  the  Holy  Land,  there 
will  burst  forth  a  degree  of  evidence  hitherto  unper- 
ceived,  and  of  efficacy  to  convert  a  world.  More  than 
three  quarters  of  mankind  yet  remain  heathen.  Heaven 
put  a  stop  to  the  propagation  of  Christianity  when  the 
church  became  corrupted  with  the  adoration  of  numerous 
deities  and  images,  because  this  would  have  been  only 
exchanging  an  old  for  a  new  idolatry.  Nor  is  Christen- 
dom now  larger  than  it  was  nine  centuries  ago.  The 
promising  prospects  of  the  Propaganda  fide  at  Rome^  are 
come  to  nothing;  and  it  may  be  of  the  divine  destiny 
that  all  other  attempts  for  gospelizing-  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  prove  fruitless,  until  the  present  Christendom 
itself  be  recovered  to  the  primitive  purity  and  simplicity ; 
at  which  time,  instead  of  the  Babel  confusion  of  contra- 

1  By  the  conquest  of  Canada  in  1759-60,  God  then  and  there  ordained 
that  America  should  be  a  free,  and,  to  this  end,  a  Protestant,  nation.  It 
would  be  a  notable,  a  practical  celebration  of  this  era  of  American  liberty 
if  the  final  conflict  of  the  same  great  principles  should  distinguish  the 
years  1859-60  in  the  Old  World's  progress.  Centuries  mark  the  onward 
life  of  nations.  —  Ed. 

2  See  p.  466,  notes  b  and  1.  —  Ed. 


472  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

dieting  missionaries,  all  will  harmoniously  concur  in  speak- 
ing one  language,  one  holy  faith,  one  apostolic  religion,  to 
an  uncontroverted  world.  At  this  period,  and  in  effect- 
ing this  great  event,  we  have  reason  to  think  that  the 
United  States  may  be  of  no  small  influence  and  consid- 
eration. It  was  of  the  Lord  to  send  Joseph  into  Egypt, 
to  save  much  people,  and  to  show  forth  his  praise.  It  is 
of  the  Lord  that  "  a  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the 
moon  under  her  feet,"  and  upon  "her  head  a  crown  of 
twelve  stars,"  ^  should  "  flee  into  the  wilderness,  where  she 
hath  a  place  prepared  of  God,"  ^  and  where  she  might  be 
the  repository  of  wisdom,  and  "keep  the  commandments 
of  God,  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus."  It  may  have 
been  of  the  Lord  that  Christianity  is  to  be  found  in  such 
greater  purity  in  this  church  exiled  into  the  wildernesses 
of  America,  and  that  its  purest  body  should  be  evidently 
advancing  forward,  by  an  augmented  natural  increase  and 
spiritual  edification,  into  a  singular  superiority,  with  the 
ultimate  subserviency  to  the  glory  of  God  in  converting 
the  world. 

When  we  look  forward  and  see  this  country  increased 
to  forty  or  fifty  millions,^  while  we  see  all  the  religious 
sects  increased  into  respectable  bodies,  we  shall  doubtless 
find  the  united  body  of  the  Congregational,  consociated, 
and  Presbyterian  .churches  making  an  equal  figure  with 
any  two  of  them ;  or,  to  say  the  least,  to  be  of  such  mag- 
nitude as  to  number  that  it  will  be  to  no  purpose  for 
other  sects  to  meditate  their  eversion.  This,  indeed,  is 
enterprised,  but  it  will  end  in  a  Sisyphean  labor.  There 
is  the  greatest  prospect  that  we  shall  become  thirty  out  of 
forty  millions.^     And  while  the  avenues  to  civil  improve- 

a  Not  to  say  Thirteen.  b  Rev.  xii.  1. 

1  See  p.  440,  note  1.  —  Ed.  2  gee  p,  4G8,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.       473 

ment  and  public  honors  will  here  be  equally  open  to  all 
sects,  so  it  will  be  no  dishonor  hereafter  to  be  a  Presbyte- 
rian, or  of  the  religious  denomination  which  will  probably 
ever  make  the  most  distinguished  figure  in  this  great  re- 
public. And  hereafter,  when  the  world  shall  behold  us  a 
respectable  part  of  Christendom,  they  may  be  induced  by 
curiosity  with  calmness  and  candor  to  examine  whether 
something  of  Christianity  may  not  really  be  found  among 
us.  And  while  we  have  to  lament  our  Laodiceanism,  de- 
ficient morals,  and  incidental  errors,  yet  the  collective  sys- 
tem of  evangelical  doctrines,  the  instituted  ordinances, 
and  the  true  ecclesiastical  polity,  may  be  found  here  in  a 
great  degree  of  purity.  Europeans,  and  some  among  us, 
have  habituated  themselves  to  a  most  contemptible  idea 
of  the  New  England  churches  —  conceiving  us  to  be  only 
a  coUuvies  of  error,  fanaticism,  irregularity,  and  confusion.* 

a  Peters's  History  of  Connecticut.! 

1  This  celebrated  work,  by  the  famous  Rev.  S.  A.  Peters,  LL.D.,  contains 
curious  observations  on  the  wonders  of  nature,  art,  and  "  fanaticism,"  in 
New  England,  the  truth  of  which  could  be  established  only  by  the  au- 
thor's high  reputation  for  veracity  and  godly  simplicity.  He  describes  a 
"chasm"  in  the  Connecticut  River,  where  "water  is  consolidated,  with- 
out frost,  by  pressure,  by  swiftness,  between  the  pinching,  sturdy  rocks, 
to  such  a  degree  of  induration  that  no  iron  crow  can  be  forced  into  it ;  .  .  . 
steady  as  time,  and  harder  than  marble,  the  stream  passes  irresistible,  if 
not  s-\vift  as  lightning;  one  of  the  greatest  phenomenons  in  nature.  .  .  No 
living  creatui'e  was  ever  known  to  pass  through  this  narrow,  except  an 

Indian  woman How  feeble  is  man,  and  how  great  that  Almighty 

who  formed  the  ....  irresistible  power  and  strength  of  waters!"  In 
Windham  the  frogs  "filled  a  road  forty  yards  wide,  for  four  miles  in 
length,  and  were  for  several  hours  passing  through  the  town,  unusually 
clamorous The  «vent  was  fatal  to  several  women.  ...  I  verily  be- 
lieve," Mr.  Peters  says,  "  an  army  under  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  would, 
under  like  circumstances,  have  acted  no  better  than  they  did."  He  is 
hopeless,  "  for  the  Church  of  England  has  lost_  the  opportunity  of  civiliz- 
ing, christianizing,  and  moderating  the  burning  zeal  of  the  dissenters  in 
New  England,  who  were  honest  in  their  religion,  merely  by  the  sinful 

40* 


474  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,    1783 


They  have  taken  this  idea  in  part  from  our  brethren  in 
Britain,  who  have  viewed  us  very  much  also  in  the  same 
light  to  this  day.  This,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  truth,  that, 
allowing  for  offences  unavoidable,  for  imperfections  and 
controversies  incident  to  the  churches  in  their  most 
regular  state,  our  churches  are  as  completely  reformed, 
and  as  well  modelled  according  to  the  Scripture  plan,  as 
can  be  expected  till  the  millennium.  Particularly  these 
essential  things  may  be  found  among  them  upon  examina- 
tion :  that  the  churches,  or  particular  congregations,  are 
regularly  formed,  and  duly  uphold  public  worship  every 
Lord's  day,  and  this  ordinarily  in  a  very  decent,  solemn 
manner;  that  the  preaching  of  the  word,  baptism,  and  the 
Lord's  supper,  are  regularly  and  duly  administered  by  the 
pastors;  that  the  pastors  are  orderly,  and  regularly  set 
apart  to  the  ministry  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  presbytery,  or  of  those  who  have  regularly  derived 
office  power,  in  lineal  succession,  from  the  apostles  and 

omission  of  not  sending  a  bishop  to  that  country,  who  would  have  ef- 
fected greater  things  among  them  than  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men." 
But  the  now  mild  and  desponding  Peters  was,  in  1774,  a  terrible  son  of 
Mars,  a  bloody-minded  leader  of  the  "  Church  of  England  "  militant,  re- 
joicing in  the  prospect  of  "  hanging  work  "  among  the  uncivilized  "dis- 
senters." See  his  letter  on  page  195  of  this  volume.  In  the  second  edition 
of  his  "  History,"  "  printed  for  the  author,"  London,  1782,  Mr.  Peters 
confidingly  says :  "  Whatever  other  historical  requisite  it  may  want,  it 
must,  I  think,  be  allowed  to  possess  originality  and  truth."  Its  claim  to 
originality  has  never  been  questioned,  and  the  work  has  placed  the  learned 
and  reverend  author  among  the  celebrities  of  the  "  Church  of  England  " 
of  that  period.    He  heartily  detested  "  preaching." 

Mr.  Kingsley  says  that  "  on  examining  the  more  prominent  statements 
of  Peters,  not  one  has  been  found  which  is  not  either  false,  or  so  deformed 
by  exaggerations  and  perversions  as  to  be  essentially  erroneous.  To 
prove  a  truth  upon  the  leading  portions  of  his  history  would  be,  it  is  be- 
lieved, an  impossible  task." — Hist.  Disc,  at  New  Haven,  1838,  83-90. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon  calls  it  "  that  most  unscrupulous  and  malicious  of 
lying  narratives."—  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.       475 

Jesus  Christ.  We  have  no  classical  or  synoclical  tribunals, 
yet  we  have  ecclesiastical  councils  ;  and  our  church  dis- 
cipline, although  not  sufficiently  attended  to,  is  such  that 
persons  of  evident  scandal  and  immorality,  and  vicious 
ministers  (of  which,  God  be  thanked!  there  have  been  but 
few,  very  few  indeed),  cannot  live  long  in  our  churches. 
With  all  our  humbling  imperfections,  I  know  of  no  amend- 
ment necessary,  as  to  our  general  system  of  church  polity. 
Nothing  of  moment,  unless  it  be  grace,  — no  doctrine,  no 
ordinance  or  institution  of  the  primitive  churches,  —  but 
may  be  found  in  general  reception  and  observance  among 
us.  If  we  are  condemned  for  having  no  tribunals  or  judi- 
catories out  of  the  church,  —  which,  however,  is  not  true,  — 
let  it  be  remembered  that  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles 
ever  instituted  any;  and  that  in  this  respect  we  are  just 
in  the  same  state,  with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  polity,  as 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty  churches  of  the  apostolic  age,* 
and  particularly  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  in  the  time 
of  St.  John. 

The  invalidity  of  our  ordinations  is  objected  against  us, 
and  so  of  consequence  the  invalidity  of  all  our  official  ad- 
ministrations. And,  now  that  we  are  upon  the  matter, 
give  me  leave  to  exhibit  a  true  though  summary  state  of 
it,  as  the  result  of  a  very  full,  laborious,  and  thorough 
inquiry.  It  was  the  mistaken  opinion  of  some  of  our  first 
ministers  in  New  England  (than  whom  there  never  was  a 
more  learned  collection,  for  they  einbosomed  all  the  theo- 
logical and  ecclesiastical  erudition  of  all  ages),  —  it  was,  I 
say,  their  opinion,  that  the  power  of  ordination  of  all 
church  officers  was  in  the  church,  by  their  elders.  They 
well  knew,  from  ecclesiastical  and  Scripture  antiquity,  that 
the  power  of  election  was  there ;  and  they  judged  ordina- 

a  It  has  been  computed  that  the  churches  of  the  apostolic  a,£^e  did  not  exceed 
one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  congregations  in  the  whole  world. 


476  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

tion  the  lesser  act ;  but  their  great  reason  was,^  that  the 
church  might  not  be  controlled  by  any  exterior  authority, 
whether  Episcopal  or  Presbyterial,  and  so  no  more  be 
harassed  by  bishops'  courts,  or  any  other  similar  tribunal. 
Our  fathers  held  to  an  eldership,  for  they  saw  it  in  all 
antiquity,  as  well  as  the  Bible ;  and  it  was  their  judgment* 
that  elders  should  be  ordained  by  elders  of  the  same 
church.  The  most  of  the  first  forty  churches  had  ruling 
elders ;  a  few  had  not.'''  These  few  created  an  early  diffi- 
culty, on  which  our  fathers  early  made  a  mistaken  decision, 
that  where  there  were  no  elders  in  the  church,  ordination 
might  be  done  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  delegated 
brethren.  The  introduction  of  ministers  already  ordained 
into  the  pastoral  charge  of  a  particular  church  was  at  first 
done  by  the  lay  brethren ;  and  this  was,  from  the  begin- 
ning, improperly  called  ordination,  how  often  soever  re- 
peated. A  repetition  of  ordinations  or  baptisms  does  not 
nullify  the  first  regular  administrations.  All  the  first  New 
England  ministers  were  ordained  before.  Thus  Mr.  Wilson 
was  first  ordained  by  a  bishop  in  England ;  then,  1630,  by 
Governor  Winthrop  and  others,  he  was  ordained  teacher 
in  Boston ;  he  then  ordained  an  elder  ;  and  upon  the  ac- 
cession of  Mr.  Cotton,  1633,  he  was,  by  this  elder  and 
Governor  Winthrop,  again,  a  third  time,  ordained,  and  con- 
stituted pastor.  So  the  learned  and  courtly  Mr.  Davenport 
was  ordained  by  a  bishop,  then  by  the  brethren,  pastor  of 
the  church  in  New  Haven,  in  1639;  and,  1688,  was  again 
ordained  pastor  of  the  first  church  in  Boston  by  Elder  Penn. 
Mr.  Hooker  was  ordained  a  presbyter  by  a  bishop  in  Eng- 


1  See  pp.  x.-xv.  —  Ed. 

2  On  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  see  the  admirable  "  Vindication 
of  the  Government  of  the  New  Enjrland  Churches,"  by  John  Wise,  A.M., 
fourth  edition,  Boston,  1860,  published  by  the  Con<2;rej;ational  Board,  vyth 
Rev.  Dr.  ClaHi's  '*  Historical  Introductory  Note." —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLOEY   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.       47T 

land,  and  then  again  by  the  brethren  at  JSTewtown,  1633, 
who  removed  with  his  church  to  Hartford.  Mr.  Bulkley, 
of  Concord,  and  Mr.  Noyes,  of  Newbury,  and  others,  ex- 
pressly adhered  to  their  former  ordinations  in  England 
by  the  bishops,  though  not  as  bishops,  but  as  presbyters.^ 
But  in  general  the  induction  of  the  ministers  of  the  first 
churches  was  performed  by  lay  brethren,  and  this  was 
called  ordination,  but  should  be  considered,  what  in  reality 
it  was,  only  induction,  or  instalment  of  those  who  were 
vested  with  official  power.  These,  as  I  said,  were  all 
ordained  before  by  the  bishops  in  England.  Nor  have  I 
ever  found  with  certainty  more  than  one  instance  of  lay 
ordination  of  a  person  never  before  ordained,  the  last  cen- 
tury (and  there  are  few  but  what  I  have  examined),  and 
this  was  done  by  the  advice  and  under  the  inspection  of 
ministers  ordained  by  the  bishops  in  England,  one  of  whom 
prayed  at  the  solemnity  of  the  consecration,  and  all  gave 
their  approbation  and  right-hand  of  fellowship,  which,  in 
my  opinion,  amounts  to  their  performing  the  ordination 
themselves,  they  being  present  and  assisting  in  the  trans- 
action. This  was  at  Woburn,  1642.  I  believe  there  were 
two  or  three  more  similar  ordinations  of  unordained  candi- 
dates before  the  ministers  saw  and  corrected  their  error, 
which  indeed  was  almost  the  only  error  of  moment  which 
the  ministers  went  into  the  last  century .^ 

Immediately  upon  publishing  the  Cambridge  platform, 
1648,  our  brethren  in  England  remonstrated  against  allow- 

1  In  a  long  note,  "  Winthrop's  entries  in  a  manuscript  diary,"  August  27, 
October  25, 1630,  November  22, 1632,  October  10, 11, 1633,  "  2m.  6d.  1637," 
April  24,  1639,  are  quoted  to  "  evince  that  the  ministers  relied  upon  their 
ordinations  in  England."  As  the  diary  is  now  in  print  (see  p.  491,  note  2) 
the  note  is  not  reprinted.  — Ed. 

2  An  elaborate  and  valuable  series  of  papers  on  the  Ecclesiastical  Anti- 
quities of  New  England  was  published  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  SewaU  in  the 
American  Quarterly  Register,  1838-1842.  — Ed. 


478  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

ing  lay  ordination.  They  alleged  that  we  had  no  example 
in  Scripture  of  lay  ordination ;  that  the  sacerdotal  gift,  or 
office  power,  was  conferred  and  given  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  the  presbytery,*  and  that  we  had  examples 
of  presbyterian  ordination  in  Scripture ;  and  not  only  that 
it  was  safest  to  proceed  in  this  way,  but  that  it  was  the 
only  scriptural  ground.  These  arguments  convinced  our 
fathers,  and  they  immediately  set  about  to  remedy  the 
practice  which  had  hitherto,  providentially,  wrought  no 
mischief,  as  the  body  of  the  pastors  had  been  ordained  by 
bishops.  It  instantly  became  a  custom  for  some  of  the 
ordained  ministers  present  to  lay  on  hands  in  ordinations ; 
it  being  for  some  time  judged  necessary  that  the  delegated 
brethren  should  join,  in  token  of  subjection  of  the  church 
to  the  pastoral  care  of  the  minister.  But  at  length  it 
became  a  custom,  so  early  as  before  1660,  that,  at  the 
desire  of  the  church,  the  ordaining  ministers  performed 
the  whole — both  conferred  office  power  on  the  pastor  elect 
by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  committed  the  church  to 
his  pastoral  charge,  which,  with  the  joint  fellowship  of  the 
pastors  and  churches,  finished  the  ordination.  Thus  ordi- 
nations were  recovered  into  their  right  state  and  order  the 
last  century,  and  before  lay  ordinations  had  wrought  any 
evil.  Thus  office  power,  by  Scripture  presbyters,  con- 
tinued to  be  transfused  through  the  clergy.  I  have  reason 
and  even  assurance  to  believe  that  there  was  no  candidate 
ordained  in  New  England  before  1746  ^  but  whose  ordina- 
tion may  be  traced  to  the  bishops  in  England.  I  have 
found  no  instance  to  the  contrary,  although  I  have 
searched  and  examined  all  the  ordinations  of  the  first  half- 
century  here,  and  most  of  them  for  the  first  hundred  years. 

a  1  Tim.  iv.  14. 

1  The  author,  in  the  second  edition,  1785,  adds  a  note,  "  The  Ordination 
among  the  Separates  began  this  year."  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   479 

And  as  to  the  wild  and  enthusiastic  period  between  1740 
and  1750,  though  it  gave  birth  to  perhaps  thirty  little  Sepa- 
rate congregations,  yet  some  have  dissolved,  others  become 
regular,  and  the  ten  or  a  dozen  now  remaining  are  more 
and  more  convinced  of  the  duty  of  seeking  ordination 
from  among  the  standing  ministers.^  And  it  is  remarkable 
that  Mr.  Thomas  Dennison,  now  living,  assisted,  laid  on 
hands,  and  gave  the  charge  at  the  first  ordination  in  1746, 
and  at  the  three  succeeding  ordinations  among  the  Sepa- 
rates in  New  England,  from  whence  all  the  ordinations  in 
the  churches  of  that  description  have  proceeded.  And 
although  in  the  first,  but  not  in  the  others,  he  acted  as 
a  brother  delegated  by  the  church,  and  in  the  othei-s  as  an 
elder  of  another  church,  yet  it  is  remarkable,  I  say,  that  he 
himself  had  been  ordained,  in  1743,  by  one  whose  ordina- 
tion I  have  traced  to  the  Mathers  and  other  Boston  minis- 
ters, and  through  them  up  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  and 
other  bishops  in  England.  It  is  probable  the  few  Separate 
churches  remaining  will  in  time  become  regular  by  seek- 
ing ordinations  among  the  pastors  of  the  standing  churches 
where  the  ordinations  are  indubitable. 

For,  as  I  have  said,  the  ordination  of  our  clergy  is  regu- 
lar and  scriptural,  and  may  be  traced  in  the  line  of  pres- 
byters up  to  the  apostolic  age ;  and  so  in  general  may  the 
ordinations  in  this  line  through  the  whole  Christian  world, 
especially  in  the  great  divisions  of  Lutherans,  Calvinists, 
and  Church  of  England.  So  wonderfully  has  Christ  pre- 
served the  sacerdotal  or  presbyterian  order  in  the  church, 
that  the  succession  in  this  line  is  without  a  doubt.     The 


1  Prince's  "  Christian  History,"  Gillie's  "  Historical  Collections,"  Tracy's 
"  History  of  the  Great  Awakeninj;,"  Dr.  Clark's  "  History  of  the  Congre- 
gational Churches  in  Massachusetts,"  chap,  xiii.,  are  among  the  many 
works  on  that  memorable  period.  See  article  "Whitefield,  George,  in  Allen's 
Biographical  Dictionary.  —  Ed. 


480  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,    1783 


first  ninety-four  ministers  who  came  over  and  settled  New- 
England,  Long  Island,  and  the  Jerseys,  before  1669,  and 
chiefly  before  1640  —  these,  I  say,  were  all  educated^  in 
the  English  universities,  and  were  ordained  in  England ; 
some  of  whom  —  as  Hooker,  Davenport,  Chauncy,  Lee, 
Bulkley,  Noyes,  Norton  —  were  men  of  universal  reading 
in  theological  literature,  and  were  profoundly  versed  in  the 
writings  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  in  the  councils 
and  historians,  the  fathers,  the  writers  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  the  reformers,  especially  those  miracles  of  human  and 
divine  learning,  Chauncy  and  Lee.  Of  these  ninety-four, 
one  or  two  only  were  ordained  by  the  Puritans,  as  the 
fourteen^  who  came  over  after  the  ejection  of  1662  were 
ordained  by  the  bishops,  or  more  probably  by  the  Presby- 
terians in  the  protectorate :  all  the  rest  by  the  bishops. 
All  these  were  ordained  presbyters  by  the  bishops  in  Eng- 
land ;  particularly  the  Rev.  Mr.  Richard  Mather  was  or- 
dained a  presbyter  by  Dr.  Morton,  Bishop  of  Chester,  1618.* 
The  bishops  did  not  intend  to  communicate  ordaining 
powers,  but  they  really  intended  to  convey  all  the  power 
of  a  Scripture  presbyter,  and  by  the  Scripture  we  find  this 
power  conferred  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  pres- 
bytery; which  demonstrates  that  presbyters,  as  such,  were 
endued  with  the  power  of  ordination.^  If  the  succession 
in  the  line  of  bishops  might  have  been  interrupted  at  the 
Reformation,  yet  not  so  in  the  line  of  presbyters.  Office 
power  has  unquestionably  been  preserved  in  England, 
among  presbyters,  not  only  to  the  times  of  its  subjugation 
to  Rome  by  Austin  the  monk,  but  ages  before,  even  to 
Lucius,  according  to  venerable  Bede.  And  indeed  we 
have  it  more  directly  to  the  apostolic  age,  without  going 

a  Life  of  Dr.  Increase  Mather.  b  1  Tim.  iv.  14. 

1  Sec  pp.  xiii.-xv.  —  Ed. 

2  Their  names  are  given  in  Mather's  "Magnalia,"  Book  III.  fol.  4.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.    481 

through  Rome,  for  Bishop  Jewel  asserts  truly  that  the 
ancient  churches  of  England  were  of  Greek,  that,  is  orien- 
tal, derivation.  We  have  in  this  manner  a  historical  evi- 
dence and  assurance  that  the  New  England  ordinations  in 
particular  may  be  traced  back  to  the  holy  apostles. 

There  is  not  an  instance,  in  the  apostolic  age,  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  being  stated  officers  of  more  than  a 
single  congregation.  I  risk  this  historic  assertion  with  the 
examination  of  the  whole  learned  world,  although  I  well 
know  that,  like  the  evidences  of  revelation,  it  has  been  ex- 
amined a  thousand  times  with  different  judgments.  Every 
congregation  regularly  and  fully  organized  had  them,  as 
appears  from  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  and  St.  Ignatius. 
The  succession  of  bishops,  who  were  only  the  first  presby- 
ters, as  well  as  of  the  other  elders,  was  preserved  by  ordi- 
nations performed  by  presbyters  in  or  out  of  a  church. 
And  though  ordinations  were  usually  performed  by  three 
or  more,  yet  if  only  one  presbyter  laid  on  hands  it  was 
valid.  Titus,  a  single  elder,  was  left  thus  to  ordain  elders 
in  Crete.  The  church  of  Alexandria,  founded  by  St. 
Mark,  retained  presbyterian  ordination  exclusive  for  three 
hundred  years,  as  appears  from  Eutychius,  the  patriarch 
there  in  the  ninth  century,  who  wrote  the  originals  of  that 
church  in  Arabic,  from  which  I  have  translated  the  follow- 
ing extract,  viz. ; 

"  The  ninth  year  of  Claudius  Caesar,  while  Mark  the  evangelist 
resided  at  Alexandria,  Hananias  being  converted  to  Christianity, 
Mark  baptized  him,  and  constituted  or  ordained  him  chief  father  at 
Alexandria,  and  he  became  the  j&rst  patriarch  of  Alexandria.  Mark 
the  evangelist  likewise  constituted  and  ordained  tAvelve  (Cashisha') 
presbyters,  with  Hananias,  who  should  abide  with  the  patriarch,  so 
that  when  there  should  be  a  vacancy  in  the  patriarchate,  they  should 
elect  one   of  the  twelve    presbyters,  upon  whose  head  the  other 

a  The  title  Cashies  is  given  to  the  Coptic  clergy  to  this  day. 

41 


482  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,    1783 


eleven  should  impose  their  hands,  bless  him,  and  create  him  patri- 
arch ;  and  then  elect  some  eminent  person,  and  constitute  him  a 
presbyter  with  themselves,  in  the  room  of  him  who  was  made  a 
patriarch,  so  that  there  should  always  be  twelve.  Nor  did  this 
institution  concerning  the  presbyters  cease  at  Alexandria,  that  they 
should  create  the  patriarchs  out  of  the  twelve  presbyters,'  until  the 
times  of  Alexander,  patriarch  at  Alexandria,  who  was  of  the  num- 
ber of  the  three  hundred  and  eighteen  "  (at  the  Council  of  Nice, 
A.  D.  325).  "  For  he  forbade  the  presbyters  afterwards  to  create  a 
patriarch,  and  decreed  that,  upon  the  death  of  a  patriarch,  the 
bishops  should  assemble  and  ordain  a  patriarch.  And  he  farther 
decreed  that,  on  k  vacancy  in  the  patriarchate,  they  should  elect, 
either  from  the  twelve  presbyters,  or  from  any  other  country,  some 
eminent  person,  and  create  him  patriarch.  And  thus  evanished  the 
ancient  institution  by  which  the  patriarch  had  been  created  by 
the  presbyters,  and  there  succeeded  in  its  place  his  decree  con- 
cerning the  creation  of  the  patriarchs  by  the  bishops.  Thus,  from 
Hananias  to  the  time  of  Demetrius,  who  was  the  eleventh  patriarch 
at  Alexandria,  there  was  no  bishop  in  the  provinces  of  Egypt ;  nor 
did  any  patriarchs  before  him  constitute  bishops.  But  he,  being 
made  patriarch,  constituted  three  bishops.  And  he  was  the  first 
Alexandrian  patriarch  who  made  bishops.  Upon  the  death  of  Deme- 
trius, Heraclas  became  patriarch,  and  constituted  twenty  bishops."  * 

Thus,  in  this  most  valuable  piece  or  relic  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal antiquity,  we  have  preserved  and  transmitted  to  us  a 
specimen  and  exemplar  of  a  truly  primitive  and  apostolic 
church.  And  herein  we  have  a  full  proof  that,  while  there 
were  fifteen  hundred  pastors  or  Cashisha,  yet  there  were 
no  bishops  in  Egypt,  in  the  posterior  appropriate  sense  of 
the  Latin  and  Greek  churches,  until  the  fourth  century, 
although  the  Christians  had  by  that  time  become  so  nu- 
merous in  Egypt  that,  in  the  most  severe  and  memorable 
persecution  under  Maximianus,  the  predecessor  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  one  hundred  thousand  Christians  were 
put  to  death  there,  and  seven  hundred  thousand  were  sold 

a  Eutychij  origines  eccl.  Alexand. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.       483 

for  slaves ;  a  barbarity  which  satiated  and  glutted  the  mal- 
ice of  persecution,  and  wrought  a  conviction  in  the  whole 
Roman  Empire  of  the  impossibility  of  subduing  Christianity. 

Correspondent  to  this  idea  of  a  church  and  its  officers 
was  the  form  particularly  of  the  church  of  Ephesus,  and 
the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  the 
churches  of  New  England,  wherein,  at  their  primitive  in- 
stitutions, were  originally  two  or  more  elders,  besides  the 
pastors  and  teachers,  i.  e.,  four  presbyters ;  although,  hav- 
ing generally,  though  not  universally,  dropped  the  ruling 
elders,  they  now  more  nearly  resemble  the  church  of 
Philippi,  in  having  at  present  only  bishops  and  deacons. 
It  might,  however,  be  well  to  resume  the  eldership,  as  in 
the  days  of  our  ancestors. 

Agreeable  to  this  primitive  idea  of  a  church  was  the 
church  of  Ireland,  planted  and  formed  by  that  great  light 
of  Christendom,  St.  Patrick,  who  —  as  Titus  travelled 
Crete,  and  ordained  elders  in  eveiy  city  —  himself  trav- 
elled Ireland,  converted  it  to  Christianity,  and  constituted 
three  hundred  and  fifty-five  churches,  and  in  each  ordained 
a  set  of  elders,  with  a  bishop  at  their  head,*"  as  did  Mark 
in  Alexandria;  —  agreeable  to  that  of  the  Irish  poet  in  the 
psalter  of  Cashet,  which,  doubtless,  while  it  retains  the 
historical  sentiments,  loses  its  beauty  in  translation  : 

"  The  blessed  Patrick,  with  his  priestly  hands. 
The  rite  of  consecration  did  confer 
Upon  the  most  religious  of  his  clergy, 
Three  hundred  and  fifty-five  in  number. 
He  likewise,  for  the  seiwice  of  the  church, 
As  many  sacred  structures  did  erect, 
And  presbyters  ordained  three  thousand."  i 


aNonuius,  speaking  of  St.  Patrick,  says:  "Ecclesias  355  fundavit,  episcopos 
ordinavit  eodera  numero,  presbyteros  autem  usque  ad  tria  millia  ordiuavit."— 
See  Nonnius  and  Keating, 

1  See  Neander's  Church  History,  Torrey's  trans.,  Bohn's  ed.  1858,  iii. 
172-177.  —  Ed. 


48'!'  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

[He  began  the  conversion  of  Ireland  about  A.  D.  432, 
and  labored  in  it  until  his  death,  about  A.  D.  490,  aetat. 
122.  His  ecclesiastical  laws  and  canons  continued  there 
four  hundred  years  after  his  death,  until  after  the  Danish 
invasion.  Although  St.  Patrick  was  born  in  Wales,  yet 
he  was  educated  and  ordained  in  Gaul,  and  borrowed  from 
thence  the  model  of  his  churches ;  which  shows  that  the 
Galilean  churches,  before  their  subjugation  to  Rome,  as 
well  as  the  Church  of  England  in  the  time  of  the  bishops 
and  monks  of  Glastenbury,  were  similar  in  their  ecclesi- 
astical polity  to  the  churches  in  Egypt  before  the  Council 
of  Nice,  to  those  of  Ireland  in  Patrick's  day,  to  the  pres- 
ent Waldensian  reliquiae^  or  remnant  of  the  ancient  Gal- 
lic churches,  and  to  the  Calvinistic  churches  of  the 
Reformation.]  ^  If  the  whole  Christian  world  were  to 
revert  back  to  this  original  and  truly  primitive  model,  how 
far  more  simple,  uniform,  and  beautiful,  and  even  glorious, 
would  the  church  universal  appear,  than  under  the  muti- 
lated, artificial  forms  of  the  pontifical  or  patriarchal  con- 
stitutions of  the  middle  and  present  ages;  and  how  far 
more  agreeable  to  the  ecclesiastical  polity  instituted  and 
delivered  by  the  holy  apostles.  May  this  be  exhibited  and 
displayed  in  the  American  churches.  Of  this,  it  gives  me 
joy  to  believe,  there  is  the  greatest  prospect.  The  initial 
revival  of  this  primeval  institution  is  indeed  already  so 
well  established  here,  where  the  Presbyterians  hold  so 
great  a  proportion  in  the  American  Republic,  that  there 
can  be  but  little  doubt  but  that  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
events  our  increasing  and  growing  interest,  without  any 
interference  with  the  other  sects,  will  at  length  ascend  to 
such  a  magnitude,  and  become  so  great  and  respectable  a 
part  of  Christendom,  as  to  command  the  attention,  con- 

1  The  lines  in  brackets  were  added  in  the  edition  of  1785.  —  Ed. 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.       485 

templation,  and  fraternal  love  of  our  brethren  and  fellow- 
Christians  of  the  church  universal,  and  even  of  the  world 
itself  And  when  the  set  time  to  favor  Zion  shall  come  in 
God's  good  and  holy  providence,  while  Christendom  may- 
no  longer  disdain  to  adopt  a  reformation  from  us,  the  then 
newly  gospelized  heathen  may  light  up  their  candle  at 
America.  In  this  country,  out  of  sight  of  mitres  and  the 
purple,  and  removed  from  systems  of  corruption  confirmed 
for  ages  and  supported  by  the  spiritual  janizaries  of  an 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  aided  and  armed  by  the  secular 
j^ower,  religion  may  be  examined  with  the  noble  Berean 
freedom,  the  freedom  of  American-born  minds.  And 
revelation,  both  as  to  the  true  evangelical  doctrines  and 
church  polity,  may  be  settled  here^  before  they  shall 
have  undergone  a  thorough  discussion,  and  been  w^eighed 
with  a  calm  and  unprejudiced  candor  elsewhere.  Great 
things  are  to  be  effected  in  the  world  before  the  millen- 
nium, which  I  do  not  expect  to  commence  under  seven  or 
eight  hundred  years  hence ;  and  perhaps  the  liberal  and 
candid  disquisitions  in  America  are  to  be  rendered  exten- 
sively subservient  to  some  of  the  most  glorious  designs 
of  Providence,  and  particularly  in  the  propagation  and 
diffusion  of  religion  through  the  earth,  in  filling  the  whole 
earth  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  A 
time  will  come  when  six  hundred  millions  of  the  human 
race  shall  be  ready  to  drop  their  idolatry  and  all  false 
religion,  when  Christianity  shall  triumph  over  superstition, 
as  well  as  Deism,  and  Gentilism,  and  Mohammedanism. 
They  will  then  search  all  Christendom  for  the  best  model, 

1  Compare  with  this  the  remarkable  words  of  John  Robinson,  the  pas- 
tor of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  said  to  them,  on  their  embarkation  at 
Delfthaven,  in  1G20 :  "  Brethren,  I  am  fully  persuaded,  I  am  very  confident, 
that  the  Lord  has  more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy  Word." 
He  probably  had  special  reference  to  ecclesiastical  polity.  —  Ed. 

41* 


486  BR,    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

the  purest  exemplification  of  the  Christian  church,  with 
the  fewest  human  mixtures.  And  when  God  in  his  provi- 
dence shall  convert  the  world,  should  the  newly  Christian- 
ized nations  assume  our  form  of  religion,  should  American 
missionaries  be  blessed  to  succeed  in  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianizing the  heathen,  — in  which  the  Romanists  and  for- 
eign Protestants  have  very  much  failed,  —  it  would  be  an 
unexpected  wonder,  and  a  great  honor  to  the  United 
States.  And  thus  the  American  Republic,  by  illuminating 
the  world  with  truth  and  liberty,  would  be  exalted  and 
made  high  among  the  nations,  in  praise,  and  in  name,  and 
in  honor.  I  doubt  not  this  is  the  honor  reserved  for  us ; 
I  had  almost  said,  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  the  zeal  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  will  accomplish  this.^ 

"  So  the  dread  seer  in  Patmos'  waste  who  trod, 
Led  by  the  visions  of  the  guiding  God, 
Saw  the  dim  vault  of  heaven  its  folds  unbend, 
And  gates,  and  spires,  and  streets,  and  domes  descend 
Far  down  the  skies.     With  suns  and  rainbows  crowned. 
The  new-formed  city  lights  the  world  around."  » 

a  Vision  of  Columb.  b.  2.2 

1  How  gloriously  this  prophecy  of  America's  mission  to  the  world  is 
already  being  accomplished,  appears,  in  part,  in  the  noble  history  and 
statistics  of  the  Missionary,  Bible,  and  Tract  Societies  of  the  United 
States  in  their  operations  over  the  round  world ;  —  missionaries  not  only 
of  the  Christian  home  and  civilization,  but  coadjutors  in  the  fields  of 
science  and  philosophy.  To  them  ethnolog)',  philology,  histor}^,  geog- 
raphy, commerce,  are  willing  and  continual  debtors,  as  well  as  aids. 
Perhaps  the  conquest  of  Canada  may  be  adopted  as  the  epoch  of  modern 
missionary  enterprise,  when  the  door  was  wide  opened  to  its  benevolent 
designs  among  the  aborigines,  —  see  Wheelock's  narratives,  —  and  from 
that  expanding,  till  it  shall  illumine  the  world  with  the  gospel  of  Chris- 
tian liberty.  The  natural  political  influence  of  American  institutions 
abroad  hardly  admits  of  statistical  statement,  as  it  is  not  the  result  of 
organized  associations.  —  Ed. 

2  Dr.  Stiles  must  have  quoted  these  lines  from  the  MS.  of  Mr.  Barlow's 
poem,  which  was  not  published  till  1787.    It  was  dedicated  to  the  unhappy 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       487 

Having  sLown  wherein  consists  the  prosperity  of  a  state, 
and  what  reason  we  have  to  anticipate  the  glory  of  the 
American  empire,  I  proceed  to  show, 

II.  That  her  system  of  dominion  must  receive  its  finish- 
ing from  religion ;  or,  that  from  the  diffusion  of  virtue 
among  the  people  of  any  community  would  arise  their 
greatest  secular  happiness ;  all  which  will  terminate  in 
this  conclusion :  that  holiness  ought  to  be  the  end  of  all 
civil  government — "that  thou  mayest  be  an  holy  people 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God." 

On  the  subject  of  religion  we  might  be  concise  and  tran- 
sient, if  indeed  a  subject  of  the  highest  moment  ought  to 
be  treated  with  brevity. 

It  is  readily  granted  that  a  state  maybe  very  prosperous 
and  flourishing  without  Christianity ;  —  witness  the  Egyp- 
tian, Assyrian,  Roman,  and  Chinese  empires.  But  if  there 
be  a  true  religion,  one  would  think  that  it  might  be  at 
least  some  additional  glory.  We  must  become  a  holy  peo- 
ple in  reality,  in  order  to  exhibit  the  experiment,  never  yet 
fully  made  in  this  unhallowed  part  of  the  universe,  whether 
such  a  people  would  be  the  haj^piest  on  earth.  It  would 
greatly  conduce  to  this  if  Moses  and  Aaron,  if  the  magis- 
tracy and  priesthood,  should  cooperate  and  walk  together 
in  union  and  harmony.  The  political  effort  of  the  present 
day,  through  most  of  the  United  States,  is  to  disunite, 
divide,  and  separate  them,^  through  fear  lest  the  United 

Louis  XTL,  and  was  republished  in  Paris.  This  distinguished  states- 
man's career  illustrates  the  broad  and  deep  influence  of  the  American 
Revolution  on  European  politics.  He  regarded  the  cross  not  as  the  em- 
blem of  Christianity,  but  of  its  corruptions  by  Popery.  He  died  Decem- 
ber 22,  1812,  aged  fifty-eight.  Allen's  Biog.  Diet,  has  a  full  notice  of  him, 
with  authorities.  Where  are  his  large  collections,  intended  for  a  History 
of  the  United  States  ?  —  Ed. 

1  The  external  separation  of  church  and  state,  now  complete,  leaves  a 
nobler  vantage-ground  to  the  Christian  Teacher  in  his  duty  to  his  coun- 


488  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

States,  like  the  five  viceroyships  of  New  Spain,  should  be 
entangled  and  oppressed  with  the  spiritual  domination  of 
European  and  Asiatic  hierarchies.  As  if,  by  the  title  of 
minister  or  pastor,  we  might  not  as  well  be  reminded 
of  the  ministers  of  Holland  and  Geneva,  or  the  mild  and 
peaceable  pastors  of  the  primitiv^e  church,  as  of  the  dom- 
ineering prelates  and  other  haughty,  intriguing  dignitaries 
of  the  Romish  church.  Hence  Aaron  is  spurned  at  a  dis- 
tance, and  the  Levites  are  beheld  with  shy  contempt,  as  a 
useless,  burdensome,  dangerous  tribe  ;  and,  in  some  of  the 
states,  for  the  only  sin  of  being  priests  of  the  Most  High 
God,  they  are  inhibited  all  civil  offices,  and,  to  a  great 
degree,  disfranchised  of  their  civil  immunities  and  rights 
of  citizenship.^  I  thank  my  God  for  this  ordering  of  his 
holy  providence,  —  for  I  wish  the  clergy  never  to  be  vested 
with  civil  power,  —  while  I  am  considering  the  spirit  and 
disposition  of  the  public  towards  the  Church  of  God,  indi- 
cated by  such  events.  A  general  spirit  reigns  against  the 
most  liberal  and  generous  establishments  in  religion ; 
against  the  civil  magistrates  encouraging  or  having  any- 
thing more  to  do  about  religion  than  to   keep  the  civil 


try;  and  as  Christian  morals  and  principles  are  the  true  foundation  of  a 
free  Christian  eommonwealth,  how  momentous  is  his  responsibility  to 
God  and  man  for  fidelity  in  "  declaring  all  the  counsel  of  God!"  The 
zeal,  firmness,  and  integrity  of  the  pulpit  in  "  preaching  the  gospel,"  from 
the  time  of  May  hew  to  Stiles,  was  of  vital  importance  to  the  triumph  of 
our  national  freedom.  But  Christianity  is  perpetual,  and  for  daily  use. 
Most  legislation  involves  or  relates  to  public  morals,  questions  in  foro 
consci entice,  and  here  Christianity  has  sovereign  jurisdiction,  which  can  be 
violated  only  by  the  suff'erance  of  that  teacher  who,  whether  from  timid- 
ity, weakness,  or  open  treachery,  is  false  to  his  Master,  unworthy  of  his 
great  commission,  and  sure  of  the  contempt  of  men.  Mayhew  and  Stiles 
are  examples,  for  all  time,  of  Christian  manhood  in  the  pulpit.  "  Politics 
and  the  Pulpit "  is  the  title  of  an  "  essay  "  on  the  true  relations  of  the 
pulpit,  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society.  —  Ed. 
1  Sec  p.  G9,  note  1,  et  seq.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.       489 

peace  among  contending  sects  :  as  if  this  was  all  that  is  to 
be  done  for  religion  by  the  friends  of  Jesus.  And  hence, 
in  designating  to  the  magistracy  and  offices  of  government, 
it  begins  to  be  a  growing  idea  that  it  is  mighty  indifferent, 
forsooth,  not  only  whether  a  man  be  of  this  or  the  other 
religious  sect,  but  whether  he  be  of  any  religion  at  all ; 
and  that  truly  deists,  and  men  of  indifferentism  to  all 
religion,  are  the  most  suitable  persons  for  civil  office,  and 
most  proper  to  hold  the  reins  of  government ;  and  that, 
to  prevent  partiality  in  governors,  and  emulation  among 
the  sects,  it  is  wise  to  consign  government  over  into  the 
hands  of  those  who,  Gallio-like,  have  no  religion  at  all.^ 
This  is  Machiavellian  wisdom  and  policy;  and  hence 
examples  are  frequently  adduced  of  men  distinguished 
truly  for  deism,  perhaps  libidinous  morals,  and  every  vice, 
yet  of  great  abilities,  it  is  said, — great  civilians,  lawyers, 
physicians,  warriors,  governors,  patriots,  politicians, — while 
as  great  or  greater  and  more  numerous  characters,  in  the 
same  departments,  —  a  Thuanus,  a  Grotius,  a  Paul  of 
Venice,  a  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  a  Sir  Peter  King,  a  Selden, 
a  Newton,  a  Boyle,  those  miracles  of  wisdom  and  friends 
to  religion  and  virtue,  —  are  passed  by  with  transient  cool- 
ness and  neglect.  I  wish  we  had  not  to  fear  that  a  neglect 
of  religion  was  coming  to  be  the  road  to  preferment.  It 
was  not  so  here  in  our  fathers'  days. 

Shall  the  Most  High  send  down  truth  into  this  world 
from  the  world  of  light  and  truth,  and  shall  the  rulers  of 
this  world  be  afraid  of  it?  Shall  there  be  no  intrepid 
Daniels, — great  in  magistracy,  great  in  religion?  How 
great  was  that  holy  man,  that  learned  and  pious  civilian, 
when  he  shone  in  the  supreme  triumvirate  at  the  head  of 
an  empire  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  provinces  —  vener- 
able for  political  wisdom,  venerable  for  religion  ! 

1  See  p.  69,  et  seq.  —  Ed. 


490  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

If  men,  not  merely  nominally  Christians,  but  of  real 
religion  and  sincere  piety,  joined  with  abilities,  were  ad- 
vanced and  called  up  to  office  in  every  civil  department, 
how  would  it  countenance  and  recommend  virtue !  But, 
alas!  is  there  not  too  much  Laodiceanism  in  this  land?  la 
not  Jesus  in  danger  of  being  wounded  in  the  house  of  his 
friends?  Nay,  have  we  gone  already  such  lengths  in 
declension  that,  if  even  the  Holy  Redeemer  himself  and 
his  apostles  were  to  reappear  among  us,  while  unknown 
to  be  such,  and  importune  the  public  government  and 
magistracy  of  these  states  to  become  nursing  fathers  to 
the  church,  is  it  not  to  be  feared  that  some  of  the  states, 
through  timidity  and  fearfulness  of  touching  religion, 
would  excuse  themselves,  and  dismiss  the  holy  messengers, 
the  heavenly  visitants,  with  coldness  and  neglect,  though 
importuning  the  spouse  with  an  "  Open  to  me,  my  beloved, 
my  sister,  my  dove  "  ? 

But  after  the  present  period  of  deism  and  skeptical 
indifferentism  in  religion,  of  timidity  and  irresolution  in 
the  cause  of  the  great  Emmanuel,  perhaps  there  may  arise 
a  succession  of  civil  magistrates  who  will  not  be  ashamed 
of  the  cross  of  Christ,  nor  of  patronizing  his  holy  religion 
with  a  generous  Catholicism  and  expanded  benevolence 
towards  all  of  every  denomination  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincerity  and  truth,  —  patronizing  it,  I  repeat, 
not  with  the  insidious  views  of  a  Hutchinsonian  ^  policy, 
but  from  a  rational  and  firm  belief  and  love  of  evangelical 
truth.  Zion's  friends  will  rejoice  in  Zion's  welfare,  and 
the  religious  as  well  as  civil  patriot  will  shine  in  the  faces 
of  the  future  Moseses  and  Joshuas  of  this  land.     So  shone 

1  The  theolo<rical  world  was  some  time  disturbed  by  the  speculative 
school  founded  by  John  Hutchinson,  1674-1737,  Avho  taught  that  all 
knowledge  is  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  every  Hebrew  root  has 
a  spiritual  as  well  as  an  obvious  sense.  —  Allibone;  Gorton.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY  OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.       491 

it  in  the  first  governor,  Winthrop,  and  so  shineth  it  in  a 
Washington.  Yea,  I  glory  in  believing  and  knowing  that 
there  are  many  now  in  the  public  magistracy  of  this  and 
the  other  states  who  feel  with  that  illustrious  and  most 
excellent  governor,  upon  whom  rested  much  of  the  spirit 
of  Samuel  and  David,  and  of  Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah,  and 
Josiah  —  I  mean  Nehemiah  the  Tirshata,  who,  with  Moses, 
esteemed  the  reproaches  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the 
treasures  of  Egypt ;  who  was  of  so  pious,  so  noble,  so  pat- 
riotic a  spirit,  such  a  lover  of  his  country  and  the  true 
religion,  that  he  preferred  the  very  dust  of  Zion  to  the 
gardens  of  Persia,  and  the  broken  walls  of  Jerusalem  to 
the  palaces  of  Shushan. 

Whenever  religion  is  erected  on  the  ruins  of  civil  gov- 
ernment, and  w^hen  civil  government  is  built  on  the  ruins 
of  religion,  both  are  so  far  essentially  wrong.  The  church 
has  never  been  of  any  political  detriment  here,  for  it  never 
has  been  vested  with  any  civil  or  secular  power  in  New 
England,  although  it  is  certain  that  civil  dominion  was 
but  the  second  motive,  religion  the  primary  one,  with  our 
ancestors  in  coming  hither  and  settling  this  land.^  It  was 
not  so  much  their  design  to  establish  religion  for  the 
benefit  of  the  state,  as  civil  government  for  the  benefit  of 
religion,  and  as  subservient  and  even  necessary  towards 
the  peaceable  enjoyment  and  unmolested  exercise  of  reli- 
gion —  of  that  religion  for  which  they  fled  to  these  ends 
of  the  earth.  An  institution  is  not  made  for  the  laws,  but 
the  laws  for  the  institution.  I  am  narrating  a  historical 
fact,  not  giving  a  position  or  principle  which  by  shrewd 
politicians  may  be  abused  to  justify  spiritual  tyranny,  and 
to  support  the  claims  of  the  pontificate  over  all  the  civil 
states,  kingdoms,  and  empires  in  Christendom. 

The  American  Nehemiah,  the  opulent^  and  pious  Gov- 

1  See  pp.  xii.,  xv.-xix.—  Ed. 

2  This  gentleman's  name  is  made  familiar  by  his  History,  first  published 


492  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

ernor  Winthrop  I.,  and  the  other  first  magistrates  of  the 
several  'New  England  republics,  were  men  of  singular 
wisdom  and  exemplary  piety.  And,  God  be  thanked  !  the 
senatorial  assembly  of  this  happiest  of  all  the  United 
States  still  embosoms  so  many  Phinehases  and  Zorobabels, 
so  many  religious  patriots,  the  friends  of  Jesus  and  his 
holy  religion  ;  and  that  the  Messiah's  cause  is  here  accom- 
panied with  civil  government  and  the  priesthood ;  —  allu- 
sively the  two  olive  trees  upon  the  right  of  the  candlestick 
(the  churches)  and  upon  the  left ;  the  two  golden  branches 
which  through  the  two  golden  pipes,  Moses  and  Aaron, 
empty  the  golden  oil  out  of  themselves,*^  and  diffuse  their 
salutary  influence  of  order  and  happiness  through  the 
community. 

a  Zech.  iv.  11. 

in  1790,  at  Hartford,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  two  later  editions, 
ably  edited  by  Mr.  Savage.  Another  work  from  his  pen,  the  "  Short 
Story"  of  the  Antinoraian  troubles,  has  been  treated  with  editorial  sever- 
ity, under  the  supposition  that  it  was  written  by  another  hand,  Rev. 
Thomas  Welde.  Some  of  his  manuscripts  are  yet  unpublished.  Dr. 
Stiles's  impression  of  Winthrop's  "  opulence"  is  corrected  by  his  own  letters 
in  Mr.  Savage's  "appendix,"  which  show  that  "one  great  motive"  to  his 
migrating  to  New  England  was  the  care  of  his  family;  that  he  had  lived 
for  some  years  in  an  unsettled  condition;  as  early  as  1623  he  wrote  to  his 
son,  "I  wish  oft  God  Avould  open  a  Avay  to  settle  me  in  Ireland;  "  that 
he  was  embarrassed  by  debt,  and  finally  sold  his  land  for  about  £1500; 
"you  must  sell  it  speedily,  for  much  debt  will  lie  upon  us," — letter  August 
14,  1630,  —  which  left  him  enough  to  win  a  new  home  in  the  New  World. 
Here,  too,  he  had  pecuniary  difficulties,  which  certainly  leave  no  "blem- 
ish" upon  his  memory,  and  of  which  his  own  account  may  be  read  in  the 
History,  vol.  i.,  474-477. 

It  would  be  safe,  in  point  of  time,  to  attribute  the  favorite  portrait  of 
Winthrop  (see  p.  1-54)  to  Ruben's  pencil,  but  not  to  Vandyke's,  for  he  prob- 
ably did  not  set  foot  in  England  till  after  Winthrop's  departure,  in  March, 
1629.   Those  artists  sought  for  commissions  from  the  court  and  nobility. 

Eliot's  and  Allen's  Dictionaries  have  good  notices  of  Winthrop.  See 
an  article  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Winthrop,  in  Bridgman's  "  King's  Chapel  Memo- 
rials," IS^S,  pp.  309-315;  "Historical  Magazine,"  1857,  p.  321;  1858,  pp. 
22,  170,  224;  also  this  volume,  pp.  xi.,  xxiii.,  notes.  — Ed. 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES.       493 

As  to  nominal  Christianity,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it 
will  be  upheld  for  ages  in  these  states.  Through  the 
liberty  enjoyed  here,  all  religious  sects  will  grow  up  into 
large  and  respectable  bodies.  But  the  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  denomination,  however  hitherto  despised, 
will,  by  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  continue  to  hold  the 
greatest  figure  in  America,  and,  notwithstanding  all  the 
fruitless  labors  and  exertions  to  proselyte  us  to  other 
communions,  become  more  numerous^  than  the  whole 
collective  body  of  our  fellow-Protestants  in  Europe.  The 
whole  proselytism  of  New  England  in  particular,  for  sixty 
or  seventy  years  past,  has  not  exceeded  eight  or  ten 
thousand,  while  our  augment  in  that  term,  by  natural 
increase,  has  been  half  a  million.  The  future  difference  in 
our  favor  will  be  far  greater,  even  admitting  a  tenfold 
increase  of  proselytism.  We  anticipate  with  pleasure  the 
growth  and  multiplication  of  our  churches.  God  grant 
that  we  may  not,  like  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  have  a 
name  to  live,  while  we  are  dead.  Happy  will  it  be  for  us 
should  we  become  a  holy  people,  zealous  of  good  works ; 
for  it  is  undoubtedly  the  will  of  Heaven,  and  especially 
after  the  recent  salvations  of  the  Most  High,  that  we  should 
be  a  holy  people  unto  the  Lord  our  God. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  wished  that  these  principles  of  our 
common  Christianity  might  be  found  in  general  reception 
among  all  the  churches  of  these  states  : 

The  Trinity  in  unity,  in  the  one  undivided  essence  of  the 
Great  Jehovah.   " 

The  sacred  Scriptures  are  of  divine  inspiration. 

In  the  immense  universe,  two  little  systems  of  intelli- 
gences, or  orders  of  being,  have  lapsed,  and  that  unhappily 
we  have  the  dishonor  of  being  one  of  them. 

The  second  person  of  the  coeternal  Trinity,  having  as- 

1  See  pp.  440,  468,  notes.  — Ed. 
42 


494  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

sumed  human  nature,  made  a  real  atonement  for  sin,  and 
by  his  vicarious  obedience  and  sufferings  exhibited  that 
righteousness  and  vicarious  merit  by  which  alone  we  are 
forgiven  and  justified. 

The  Holy  Ghost  is  equally  a  divine  person  wdth  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  sharing  with  them  divine,  supreme, 
equal,  and  undivided  honors. 

True  virtue  consists  in  a  conformity  of  heart  and  life  to 
the  divine  law,  which  is  as  obligatory  upon  Christians  as  if 
eternal  life  was  suspended  on  perfect  obedience. 

The  eternal  principle  of  holiness  essentially  consists  in 
divine  love,  a  disinterested  affection  for  moral  excellency, 
a  delight  in  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the  divine  character, 
that  is,  the  supreme  love  of  God.  And  connected  with 
and  issuing  from  this  is  a  joyful  acquiescence  in  his  will, 
a  rejoicing  in  his  sovereignty  and  universal  dominion. 

While  salvation  and  pardon  are  of  free  grace,  the  retri- 
butions of  eternity  will  be  according  to  our  works. 

Whenever  I  find  these  principles,  with  others  connected 
with  them,  and  the  real  belief  of  them  evinced  by  an 
amiable  life,  there  I  judge  the  essentials  of  Christianity  to 
be  found,  and  thither  my  charity  and  benevolence  extend 
with  equal  ardor  and  sincerity,  be  the  religious  denomina- 
tion as  it  may.  Of  these,  the  doctrines  of  the  divinity  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  his  real  vicarious  atonement,  are  the 
most  important — the  Jachin  and  Boaz,  the  pillar-truths  of 
the  gospel,  the  articuli  staiitis  et  cadentis  ecclesice. 

This  was  the  system  of  theology  brought  over  from  the 
other  side  of  the  flood  by  our  pious  forefathers,  now  with 
God.  The  more  this  is  realized  in  a  state,  the  more  will 
its  felicity  be  advanced;  for,  certainly,  the  morals  of 
Christianity  are  excellent.  It  enjoins  obedience  to  magis- 
tracy, justice,  harmony,  and  benevolence  among  fellow- 
citizens  ;  and,  what  is  more,  it  points  out  immortality  to 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.        495 

man.  Politicians,  indeed,  usually  consider  religion  only  as 
it  may  affect  and  subserve  civil  purposes,  and  hence  it  is 
mighty  indifferent  to  them  what  the  state  of  religion  be, 
provided  they  can  ride  in  the  whirlwind  and  direct  the 
storm.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  them  in 
every  country  making  use  of  sects,  for  their  own  ends, 
whonp  they  in  their  hearts  despise  and  ridicule  with  su- 
preme contempt.  Not  so  the  Christian  patriot,  who  from 
his  heart  wishes  the  advancement  of  Christianity  much 
less  for  the  civil  good  than  for  the  eternal  welfare  of 
immortal  souls.  We  err  much  if  we  think  the  only  or 
chief  end  of  civil  government  is  secular  happiness.  Shall 
immortals,  illuminated  by  revelation,  entertain  such  an 
opinion  ?  God  forbid !  Let  us  model  civil  society  with  the 
adoption  of  divine  institutions  so  as  shall  best  subserve 
the  training  up  and  disciplining  innumerable  millions  for 
the  more  glorious  society  of  the  church  of  the  first-born. 
Animated  with  the  sublime  ideas  which  Christianity  in- 
fuses into  a  people,  we  shall  be  led  to  consider  the  true 
religion  as  the  highest  glory  of  a  civil  polity.  The  Chris- 
tian institution  so  excelled  in  glory,  that  the  Mosaic  lost  all 
its  glory.  So  the  most  perfect  secular  polity,  though  very 
excellent,  would  lose  all  its  glory  when  compared  with  a 
kingdom  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  a  community 
wherein  the  religion  of  the  divine  Jesus  reigns  in  vigor 
and  perfection. 

Let  us  institute  a  comparison  of  religions  in  three  dif- 
ferent polities,  which  wall  sufficiently  represent  the  state 
of  the  whole  world.  And  may  that  spirit  which  justly 
springs  from  such  a  comparison  animate  all,  whether  in 
humble  life  or  in  the  most  elevated  stations  among  man- 
kind. We  may  consider  three  contiguous  empires,  of  the 
same  civil  polity,  all  alike  as  to  the  social  virtues,  laws  of 
justice,  benevolence,  and  the  morals  of  civil  society,  — for 


496  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

I  mean  to  institute  a  very  liberal  and  candid  comparison. 
On  the  one  of  these  shall  be  established  the  idolatry  of  the 
Bonzas,  as  a  specimen  of  all  the  idolatrous  religions ;  deism 
shall  cover  the  second;  and,  of  the  unidolatrous  religions, 
I  will  select  for  the  third,  not  the  Mohammedan,  not  the 
Jewish,  but  the  Christian,  in  its  purest  apostolic  form. 

As  to  the  first,  the  species  of  idolatry  is  indifferent, 
whether  ancient  or  modern,  that  of  the  Druids  or  Zoroas- 
ter, of  the  Bramins  or  Romanists,  or,  lastly,  that  of  the 
great  Lama  of  Potola,  which  is  the  most  extensive  as  well 
as  most  splendid  religion  on  earth,  being  the  religion  of 
one-third  of  the  human  race.  Let  us  select  the  last ;  it  has 
for  its  basis,  in  common  with  all  other  idolatrous  systems, 
adoration  and  worship,  of  some  kind  or  other,  to  a  hierar- 
chy of  celestial  spirits,  as  our  intercessors  and  protectors 
under  the  supreme  God.  These  have  been  in  all  ages  the 
Mahuzzim  of  Daniel,  who  predicts  the  apostasy  of  the 
church  to  the  worship  of  Mahuzzim  departed  souls,  invisi- 
ble spirits,  as  intercessors  with  God.  This  is  the  real  basis 
of  all  idolatry,  ancient  and  modern.  These  were  the  Baa- 
lim and  the  heroes.  And  it  is  just  indifierent  whether  we 
sacrifice  and  pray  to  Hercules  or  St.  Paul,  to  the  thirty 
thousand  gods  of  Athens  or  tlie  saints  of  the  calendar,  as 
advocates  with  the  Father  of  the  universe.  Now,  let  the 
inhabitants  of  an  empire  be  resolved  into  religious  assem- 
blies and  convocations  for  the  sacrificial  worship  of  these 
inferior  divinities,  with  a  splendid  ceremonial  and  priest- 
hood :  who  does  not  see,  in  these  enlightened  realms,  that 
all  this  is  religious  delusion,  a  transfer  of  worship  to  the 
creature  from  the  Creator?  —  who  may  well  say,  "Who  hath 
required  this  at  your  hands?"  If  it  be  said  that  supreme 
worship  is  not  rendered  to  the  saints  of  the  pontifical  can- 
onization, so  neither  was  it  by  the  Ten  Tribes,  all  of  whom 
but  eight  thousand  kissed  the  calves  and  worshipped  the 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.       497 

numerous  Baalim,  heroes,  or  derai-gods.  Dr.  Middleton 
has  shown  that  the  specifical  worship,  with  a  change  of 
names  only,  is  paid  at  Rome  to  the  modern  canonized 
saints,  as  to  the  deified  heroes  of  the  ancient  Romans  and 
Greeks.  The  last  effort  of  the  philosophers  against  Chris- 
tianity was  in  the  time  of  Julian  ;  and  they  subordinated 
the  whole  system  of  ethnical  worship  to  the  worship  of 
the  Supreme  Being,  asserting  that  as  Christians  acknowl- 
edged the  ministry  of  angels,  so  they  held  with  the  minis- 
try of  genii  that  of  deceased  and  departed  spirits,  who 
must  be  supposed  to  retain  a  peculiar  affection  for  their 
families,  cities,  and  kingdoms  on  earth,  especially  for  those 
who  should  have  referred  themselves  to  their  protection, 
and  intercession  with  the  Deus  O.  M.  the  Supreme  God. 
Thus  they  defended  themselves  upon  the  very  same  rea- 
soning as  that  upon  which  the  Christian  idolatry  is  de- 
fended. We  are  directed  to  ask  the  prayers  of  our  fellow- 
Christians  on  earth,  and,  by  parity,  why  should  we  not  ask 
their  prayers  in  heaven,  where  they  must  be  supposed  to 
have  far  greater  influence  ?  And  if  we  are  directed  to 
treat  one  another,  and  especially  great  benefactors  of  our 
country,  with  public  respect  while  here,  why  not,  by  parity, 
continue  this  respect  and  the  symbols  of  honor  to  them  in 
heaven  ?  What  a  beautiful  gradation  is  there,  it  is  said, 
in  the  ethnical  and  Christian  worship,  or  ascription  of 
gratitude  to  inferior  and  powerful  intercessors !  And  how 
does  it  tend  to  keep  alive  our  minds,  and  impress  them 
with  glorious  ideas  of  that  grand,  august,  and  beautiful 
system  of  agency  and  subordinate  administrations  in  the 
great  government  of  the  One  Great  Supreme !  How 
beautiful  the  subordinate  mediation  of  angels  and  saints, 
under  the  all-comprehensive  mediation  of  the  blessed 
Jesus,  through  whom  all  worship,  adoration,  and  homage 
is  to  ascend  to  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe !     Let  us  be 

42* 


498  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

assured  that  the  Romanists,  think  themselves  to  have  great 
reason  for  the  adoration  of  the  superior  powers. 

Adjacent  to  this  an  empire  of  the  same  excellent  consti- 
tution shall  be  overspread  with  deism  exclusively.  And 
to  give  the  idea  the  most  candid  extent,  perhaps  beyond 
the  desires  of  a  Tyndal,  or  even  of  a  Shaftesbury,  —  the 
amiable  Confucius  of  deism,  —  not  to  mention  the  smaller 
and  more  desultory  geniuses  of  a  Hume  or  a  Voltaire,  — 
neither  of  whom  had  any  more  taste  or  judgment  in  reli- 
gion or  moral  reasoning  than  Cicero  in  poetry  or  Cibber 
for  the  drama,  —  I  say,  to  give  the  fairest  idea  of  perfect 
deism,  let  the  people  of  this  empire  be  resolved  into 
occasional,  but  not  too  frequent,  worshipping  assemblies, 
for  worshipping  the  God  of  nature  under  the  direction 
of  the  illuminated  brethren,  or  of  some  right  worship- 
ful brother  ;  and  also  to  thank  God  for  his  goodness  in 
this  life,  and  for  a  certain  prospect  of  a  blessed  im- 
mortality, if  there  should  be  any ;  when,  perhaps,  some 
noble  minds,  spirits  of  elevated  and  sublime  genius,  of 
bold,  refined,  and  independent  sentiment,  might  descant 
upon  the  common  principles  of  social  virtue  and  benev- 
olence. I  have  certainly  done  justice  to  deism,  although 
we  hear  nothing  of  pardoning  mercy,  because  truly  we 
need  none,  —  such  being  the  excellency  and  dignity  of 
man,  who,  as  Phocelides  saith,  is  the  image  of  God,  that 
he  well  answers  the  end  of  existence,  merits  reward,  and 
must  hereafter  be  happy  under  the  all-comprehending,  the 
most  benevolent  administration  of  the  universal  Father. 
How  pure  and  sublime  is  natural  religion  ! 

Christianity  shall  be  the  establishment  of  the  third  ter- 
ritorial empire.  And  to  preclude  the  sectarian  prejudica- 
tions from  disturbing  the  clearness  and  calmness  of  the 
mental  perception,  let  any  one  overspread  it  with  the  Bible 
Christianity  according  to   his  own  idea.      I,  for  myself 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.       499 

might  overspread  the  whole  with  the  Congregational 
churches,  being  not  simply  satisfied,  but  sure,  ftom  a 
thorough  perlustration  of  all  ecclesiastical  history,  that 
they  are  nearly  apostolical  as  to  doctrine  and  polity.  And 
let  this  justice  further  be  done,  that  religion  shall  reign 
in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  people  at  large ;  and  that 
it  be  the  great  and  harmonious  endeavor  of  the  ruling 
characters  and  influential  personages  through  the  state, 
both  by  example  and  precept,  to  support  such  a  reign  of 
virtue  and  holiness.  All  that  is  valuable  and  truly  excel- 
lent in  the  other  empires  is  embraced ;  and,  in  addition, 
we  have  discoveries,  and  offers,  and  assurances,  great  in  the 
confession  of  all  men,  if  true,  and  glorious  beyond  descrip- 
tion, —  infinitely  momentous  indeed,  and  infinitely  surpass- 
ing what  is  to  be  found  in  all  the  mythologies  or  moral 
systems  around  the  globe.     But  I  do  not  enlarge. 

Ten  thousand  myriads  of  ages  hence,  in  which  of  these 
three  would  the  civilian,  the  patriot,  the  man  of  religion 
wish  to  have  been  found  ?  —  in  which  to  have  acted  his 
part  ?  —  for  most  certainly  they  are  not  indifferent  —  and, 
in  advancing  its  glory,  to  have  exerted  the  talents  and 
activity  with  which  the  Author  of  Nature  had  blessed 
him? 

Which  of  these  governments  is  it  probable  would  most 
contribute  to  the  secular  welfare,  and  be  attended  with 
the  greatest  dignity,  and  even  the  greatest  worldy  splen- 
dor? But,  above  all,  which  most  subservient  to  eternity 
and  its  momentous  concerns  ?  In  which,  as  a  school  of 
institution  and  discipline,  should  we  enjoy  the  happiest 
advantages  for  immortality?  Which  of  these  empires 
would  be  the  favorite  of  Jesus  ?  Or  is  he  indeed  an  un- 
concerned spectator  of  human  affiirs?  If  not,  why  should 
we  doubt  or  hesitate  to  give  the  preference  to  the  Chris- 
tian Republic  ?     If  revelation  be  not  true,  it  does  us  no 


500  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783: 

hurt ;  we  are  as  safe  and  as  well  off  as  others,  having  all 
their  moral  virtue.  But  if  revelation  be  true,  it  is  true  exclu- 
sively, and  therefore  to  be  attended  to  at  peril.  This  is  no 
proof;  but  it  is  a  reason  for  exciting  our  attention  to  its 
evidence,  both  in  miracles  and  prophecy,  as  well  as  in  a  cer- 
tain internal  beauty  and  glory  opened  by  Heaven  upon  a 
benighted  world.  Peradventure,  with  other  happy  millions, 
we  may  be  also  blessed  to  perceive  it  to  be  not  a  cun- 
ningly devised  fable,  as  was  conceived  by  that  impious  pon- 
tiff who  could  exclaim,  Eheu!  quantum  lucrifecit  nobis 
hcecfabula  Christif  but  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God,  to 
have  issued  from  the  fountain  of  unerring  wisdom  and 
consummate  benevolence ;  —  which  will  be  the  case,  the 
liappy  fact,  the  moment  we  perceive  the  evidence  of  the 
one  single  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  after  his 
undoubted  crucifixion,  —  a  fact  testified  by  eye-witnesses, 
and  supported  by  evidence  preserved  in  memoirs  which 
have  come  down  to  us  with  greater  authenticity  than  Jus- 
tin or  Tacitus,  —  evidence,  I  say,  overlooked  indeed,  but 
never  overthrown,  and  which  at  once  will  support  the 
whole  glorious  superstructure  of  Christianity. 

But  I  need  pardon  that  I  should  institute  this  compari- 
son in  a  Christian  assembly,  and  in  a  country  where  we 
seem  to  be  in  no  danger  of  idolatry,  and  where,  God  be 
thanked !  deists  are  very  thinly  sown ;  although,  like 
another  set  of  men  among  us  of  illaudable  and  invidious 
description,  they  magnify  themselves  into  legions. 

I  have  supposed  all  religions  equal  as  to  virtue,  and  that 
civil  virtue  is  the  only  end  of  civil  society ;  but  I  must 
resume  both  these  mistakes.  Vices  and  every  species 
of  wickedness  are  found,  more  or  less,  to  enter  into  the 
essence  of  all  religions  except  that  of  divine  revelation.  If 
Christians  are  wicked,  and  even  should  they  surpass  the 
Gentiles  in  vice,  their  religion  never  taught  them  so.     But 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES.        501 

the  very  institution  of  the  festivals  of  the  ancient  gods 
and  goddesses  directly  taught  the  most  impure  obscenities 
and  libidinous  revellings.  And  this  is  continued  to  this 
day  in  the  East  Indies.  An  Indian  Bramin,  Arunasalem,  a 
Pandarums,  or  priest  of  Tarmaburam,  was  converted  to 
Christianity  in  1765,*  upon  which  the  college  of  Panda- 
rum  sent  him  a  letter  to  reclaim  him.  Too  long,  says  he 
in  his  reply,  —  too  long  have  I  been  a  witness  to  public 
lewdness  in  the  sacrifices  and  worship  of  your  pagodas 
or  temples.  My  conscience  told  me  these  institutions 
could  not  come  from  a  pure  and  holy  God.  O  my  God ! 
how  do  I  lament  that  I  have  been  twenty-eight  years 
thine  enemy !  No  ablution,  no  sacrifice  of  Lingam,  can 
wash  away  sin  and  purify  the  soul ;  the  blood,  sufferings, 
and  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Nadar,  the  Redeemer,  alone  cleanse 
from  all  sin.^ 

This,  with  a  survey  of  the  state  of  man  in  all  ages,  may 
show  us  that  ethnic  morals  do  not  merit  the  high  encomi- 
ums, the  rapturous  eulogies,  which  some  have  given  them. 
Nor  are  deistical  morals  very  promising.  A  world,  a  uni- 
verse full  of  Rochesters  and  Chesterfields  —  what  would  it 
be?  —  characters  which  may  blaze  their  moment  in  an 
earthly  court,  but  can  never  shine  in  the  court  above. 

Modern  deists,  —  but  why  do  I  say  modern?  for  the  very 
fraternity  is  but  of  yesterday,  —  the  deists  have  more 
lately  improved  and  adopted  suicide  and  fate  into  their 
system,  holding  it  in  common  with  the  Bramins  of  Asia 
and  the  Aulic  chieftains  in  Africa.  We  might  trace  the 
matter  of  suicide  through  a  tract  of  ages,  from  Calenus, 
the  Indian  philosopher,  who  from  the  funeral  pile  laughed 
at  Alexander  the  Great,  to  that  sublime  genius,  that  deis- 

a  Born  1737. 

1  The  author's  note  of  two  pages,  on  the  Religion  of  India,  is  omitted. 
—  Ed. 


502  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 


tical  madman,  who  lately  "  stole  away "  out  of  life  with 
his  wife  and  four  children  at  once,  —  "closing  the  eyes 
of  six  persons  out  of  perfect  humanity  and  the  most  en- 
dearing fondness  and  friendship."  * 

Sir  William  Temple,  Sale,  and  other  learned  deists,  fond 
of  depreciating  Christian  virtue  by  comparisons,  have  ex- 
tolled and  celebrated  the  Mohammedan,  Chinese,  and 
other  oriental  morals,  as  far  superior  to  the  Christian. 
But  the  learned  historiographer,  Principal  Robertson,  as- 
serts, with  historic  verity,  that  upon  the  comparison  of 
Europe,  in  particular,  in  its  Gentile  and  Christian  ages, 
her  morality  will  appear  to  have  been  greatly  improved 
and  meliorated,  and  that  the  ethnic  morals  fell  far  below 
the  Christian.  While  we  have  to  confess  and  lament  the 
vice  rampant  in  Christendom,  we  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  more  Christianity  prevails  in  a  country,  civil  so- 
ciety will  be  more  advanced,  ferocious  manners  will  give 
way  to  the  more  mild,  liberal,  just,  and  amiable  manners  of 
the  gospel. 

Be  it  granted  that  in  all  countries  are  to  be  found  men 
of  integrity,  honor,  benevolence,  and  excellent  morals, 
even  where  vice  has  a  prevalent  reign  to  the  greatest  ex- 
cesses of  a  general  licentiousness ;  yet,  supposing  a  com- 
munity, a  kingdom,  a  world,  overspread  with  such  charac- 
ters, with  the  finest  morals  of  a  Socrates  or  a  Confucius, 
what  would  be  the  moral  state  of  such  a  country  in  com- 
parison with  one  overspread  with  the  reign  of  the  Chris- 
tian morals  ?  —  I  mean  in  perfection. 

How  much  soever  we  may  admire  the  morals  of  Plato 
or  Epictetus,  they  are  not  to  be  compared  with  those 
taught  by  Moses  and  the  divine  Jesus.  Nor  are  we  to 
conceive  that  civil  virtue  is  the  only  end  of  civil  govern- 

a  William  Beadle,  who,  professing  himself  a  deist,  on  the  eleventh  of  Decem- 
ber, 1782,  cut  the  throats  of  his  wife  and  four  children,  and  then  pistoled  himself. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   503 

raent.  As  the  end  of  God's  government  is  his  declarative 
glory  in  the  holiness  and  happiness  of  the  universe,  so  all 
civil  government  ought  to  subserve  the  same  end.  The 
most  essential  interests  of  rational  beings  are  neglected 
when  their  secular  welfare  only  is  consulted.  If,  there- 
fore, we  defend  and  plead  for  Christianity  from  its  secular 
and  civil  utility  only,  and  leave  it  here,  we  dishonor  reli- 
gion by  robbing  it  of  half,  nay,  its  greatest  glories.  It 
serves  a  higher  purpose;  for,  although  it  subserves  the 
civil  welfare  infinitely  beyond  the  morals  of  deism  and 
idolatry,  yet  it  also  provides  for  the  interests  of  eternity, 
which  no  other  religion  does.  It  opens  to  us  the  most 
gi-and  and  sublime  discoveries  concerning  God,  reconcilia- 
tion with  him,  and  the  reunion  of  this  lapsed  world  with 
the  immense  universe.  Discoveries  momentous  and  inter- 
esting beyond  conception  !  —  without  which  we  are  left  to 
perfect  incertitude,  if  not  totally  in  the  dark,  with  respect 
to  eternity  and  its  vast  concerns. 

Should  we  have  recourse  to  the  goodness  of  God,  yet 
of  all  beings  angels  would  think  that  man  should  be  the 
last  to  reason  from  the  benevolence  and  goodness  of  the 
Universal  Parent  to  the  impossibility  of  his  offspring 
being  involved  in  future  ill,  when  from  thence  we  might 
equally  reason  against  the  existence  of  present  ill.  If 
some  distant  seraph,  who  never  knew  or  heard  of  ill, 
should  reason  thus,  it  would  be  no  marvel,  perhaps ;  but 
that  we,  with  all  our  sins  and  sufferings  about  us,  should 
go  into  such  reasonings,  is  the  height  of  folly,  the  absurd- 
ity of  absurdities.  And  why  should  that  Infinite  Good- 
ness preserve  the  numerous  millions  that  die  in  finished 
though  half-punished  vice,  that  did  not  preserve  the  lives 
of  those  upon  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  —  who  did 
not  avert  the  desolations  of  Lisbon,  Naples,  Herculaneum, 


504  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1183. 

and  Palermo  ?     Cast  thine  eyes  thither,  O  man,  remember 
the  battle,  and  do  no  more." 

If,  instead  of  reasoning  from  the  works  and  word  of 
God,  and  thus  ascending  upwards  into  Deity,  we 

"  Take  the  high  priori  road, 
And  reason  downward,  till  we  doubt  of  God";^  — 

if,  by  inductive  reasonings  from  the  perfections  of  God 
to  what  can  and  what  cannot  be,  we  should,  among  other 
things,  boldly  conclude  a  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation  of  the 
eternal  Word  absurd  nullities,  and  yet  it  should  appear  in 
another  state  that  a  crucified  Jesus  sits  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty  on  high, — how  would  these  mighty  sensible 
characters,  these  fine  geniuses,  these  sublime,  these  foolish 
reasoners,  be   disappointed !     May  I  be  forgiven  a  very 
earnest  solicitude  here,  having  myself  passed  through  the 
cloudy,  darksome  valley  of  skepticism,  and  stood  on  the 
j^recipice,  from  whence  I  was  in  danger  of  taking  a  juve- 
nile leap  into  the  irrecoverable  depths  of  deism ;  for  so 
rare  are  the  Forbeses  and  the  Jenningses,  the  instances  of 
emancipated  real  infidels,  that  ?iidla  vestigia  retrorsum'^ 
may  be  inscribed  on  the  temple  of  deism.     Knowing  these 
dangers,  I  pity  from  my  heart,  and  almost  bleed  at  every 
pore,  for  those  who  are  caught  in  the  vortex,  and  are  capti- 
vated with  the  wily,  satirical,  delusory,  and  deficient  rea- 
sonings of  deism.      Elevated   with  the  pride   of  mental 
enlargement,  of  a  supposed  untrammeled  understanding, 
they  ascend  aloft  above  the  clouds  of  prejudices  into  the 
Pisgah  heights,  from  whence  they  fancy  that  they  see  all 
religions  the  same  —  that  is,  equally  nothing  but  priest- 
craft and  artificial  error;  whereupon  they  compliment  them- 
selves as  endowed  with  a  superiority  of  discernment  in 
morals,  with  high  sensibility,  sentimental  and  liberal  ideas, 

a  Job  xli.  8.  b  Tope.  c  No  return  from  hence. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   505 

and  charm  themselves  with  other  fine  self-applied  diction, 
which  in  truth  only  clothes  the  tedium,  the  weariness  of 
half-discussed,  unfinished  inquiries;  or  perhaps  the  hope 
that  at  worst  the  want  of  certain  knowledge  may  pass 
with  God,  if  there  is  any,  as  a  sufficient  excuse  for  some  of 
the  doubtful  levities  of  life. 

But  errors  in  judgment,  it  is  said,  will  be  of  no  account 
with  God.  In  ten  thousand  matters  they  may  not.  We 
may  trifle  on  many  things,  but  on  the  things  that  respect 
eternity,  the  things  of  religion,  it  is  too  solemn,  too  danger- 
ous to  trifle.  Althous^h  most  religions  are  false  and  ridic- 
ulous,  there  may  however  be  one  which  we  must  renounce 
or  trifle  with  at  our  peril.  For  if  revelation  be  true,  as 
most  assuredly  it  is,  it  is  in  Jesus  only  that  we  have 
eternal  life.  Infidels,  and  those  excessively  benevolent 
Christians  who  consider  all  religions  alike  and  equally 
ridiculous,  do  well  in  their  calmer  moments  to  ponder 
those  words  of  the  eternal  Judge :  "  Whosoever  shall 
deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,"^  Where  then  will  a  Judas  and  a 
Beadle  appear  ?  Step  forth,  thou  Herbert,  the  father  of 
deism !  Come  hither,  ye  Bolingbrokes,  Tindals,  Collinses, 
Humes,  Voltaires,  with  all  your  shining  abilities,  and  that 
disappointed  group  of  self-opinionated  deniers  of  the  Lord 
"that  bought  them,"  with  that  cloud  of  deluded  followers 
who  ''  would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them,"  —  evanish 
from  my  presence,  with  all  the  light  of  your  boasted  wis- 
dom, into  the  blackness  of  darkness,  for  ever  and  ever !  On 
what  principles  can  the  despised,  the  amiable  Jesus  with- 
hold or  recede  from  so  awful  a  sentence,  so  tremendous  a 
denunciation  ? 

How  infinitely  happier  they  who,  believing  the  record 

a  Matt.  X.  33;  John  iii.  36. 
43 


506  DR.   stiles' S   ELECTION   SERMOX,   1783 


which  God  giveth  of  his  Son,  have  received  him,  and  are 
become  the  sons  of  God !  Is  it  nothing  —  is  it  a  small 
thing  to  be  initiated  into  the  glorious  idea  of  God  and  the 
Trinity  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  ?  —  to  contemplate  the 
hierarchy  and  government  of  the  universe,  and  the  high 
dignity  of  that  most  illustrious  Personage  who  is  our  Inter- 
cessor, Advocate,  and  Sovereign  ?  Shall  this  light  come 
into  the  world,  and  we  neglect  it  ?  And  shall  it  be  said 
that  these  views  do  not  animate  a  sublimer  virtue  than  the 
motives  taken  from  civil  society?  Shall  the  consideration 
of  being  citizens  of  a  little  secular  kingdom  or  community 
be  equally  animating  with  those  taken  from  our  being 
citizens  of  the  august  monarchical  republic  of  the  universe  ? 
But  I  must  desist,  with  only  observing  that  the  United 
States  are  under  peculiar  obligations  to  become  a  holy 
people  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  on  account  of  the  late 
eminent  deliverance,  salvation,  peace,  and  glory  with  which 
he  hath  now  crowned  our  new  sovereignty.** 

I  have  thus  finished  the  two  heads  upon  which  I  at  first 
proposed  to  discourse.  And  I  shall  not  further  trespass 
upon  the  patience  of  this  very  honorable  auditory  by  an 
application,  but  close  with  the  addresses  usual  upon  this 
anniversary  solemnity. 

To  GovERNOK  Teumbtjll  : 

I  beg  leave  in  the  first  place,  with  the  greatest  honor, 
the  most  profound  and  dutiful  respect,  to  address  myself 
to  his  Excellency  the  Governor  of  this  State. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency :  We  account  ourselves 
happy,  most  illustrious  sire,  that,  by  the  free  election  and 
annual  voice  of  the  citizens,  God  hath  for  so  many  years 
past  called  you  up  to  the  supreme  magistracy  in  this  com- 
monwealth.     And  while  we  rejoice  that  this  state  em- 

B  Deut.  iv.  34. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.        507 

bosoms  numerous  characters  equal  to  tlie  highest  offices  of 
government,  yet  should  this  day's  election  fall  again  upon 
him  who,  according  to  the  interpretation  of  his  name,  * 
Jehovah  hath  given  us,  it  would  diffuse  a  joy  through 
the  United  States.  And  should  you  now  resign  the  chair, 
you  would  enjoy  the  reflection  that  you  had  been  carried 
through  a  scene  of  the  most  distinguished  usefulness,  and 
lived  to  see  the  end  of  the  war,  and  establishment  of 
American  liberty  and  independence. 

It  is  observable  that,  by  a  particular  turn  of  genius  and 
a  peculiar  discipline  in  early  life,  God  often  prepares  great 
characters  for  that  future  usefulness  and  eminence  for 
which  they  are  designed  in  the  world.  This  was  conspic- 
uous in  the  instances  of  Joseph,  Moses,  and  Daniel, — 
neither  of  whom  in  youth  thought  that  they  were  training 
up  for  the  eminent  spheres  of  action  in  which  they  after- 
wards moved. 

Endowed  with  a  singular  strength  of  the  mental  powers, 
with  a  vivid  and  clear  perception,  with  a  penetrating  and 
comprehensive  judgment,  embellished  with  the  acquisition 
of  academical,  theological,  and  political  erudition,  your 
Excellency  became  qualified  for  a  very  singular  variety  of 
usefulness  in  life.  Instituted  in  the  sciences,  the  Hebrew 
literature,  and  theology,  you  were  not  only  prepared  for 
the  sanctuary,  but,  being  expert  in  all  questions  touching 
the  law  of  your  God,  you  became  qualified  to  judge  how 
we,  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  under  your  government, 
ought  to  behave  ourselves  in  the  house  of  God,  while  it 
has  pleased  God  to  call  you  up  to  other  services  in  civil 
life.  Thus  the  great  Melchisedec  was  priest  of  the  Most 
High  God,  and  king  of  Salem.  So  Moses,  though  of  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  and  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  Egypt,  was 
called  of  God  to  be  king  in  Jeshurum. 

a  .Tonatlian,  Jehovah-natan. 


508  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

An  early  entrance  into  civil  improvement,  and  fifty 
years'  *  service  in  our  country,  with  an  uncommon  activity 
and  dispatch  in  business,  had  familiarized  the  whole  rota 
of  duty  in  every  office  and  dej^artment  antecedent  and 
preparatory  to  the  great  glory  of  your  Excellency's  life, 
the  last  eight  years'  administration  at  the  head  of  this 
commonwealth,  —  an  administration  which  has  rendered 
you  the  Pater  JPatrice.,  tlie  father  of  your  country,  and  our 
dulce  decus  atque  tutanieri. 

We  adore  the  God  of  our  fathers,  the  God  and  Father 
of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  that  he  hath  raised  you  up  for 
such  a  time  as  this,^  tmd  that  he  hath  put  into  your  breast 
a  wisdom  which  I  cannot  describe  without  adulation,  a 
patriotism  and  intrepid  resolution,  a  noble  and  indepen- 
dent spirit,  an  unconquerable  love  of  liberty,  religion,  and 
our  country,  and  that  grace  by  which  you  have  been  car- 
ried through  the  arduous  labors  of  a  high  office  with  a 
dignity  and  glory  never  before  acquired  by  an  American 
governor.  Our  enemies  revere  the  names  of  Trumbull 
and  Washington.  In  honoring  the  state  and  councils  of 
Connecticut,  you,  illustrious  sire,  have  honored  yourself  to 
all  the  confederate  sister  states,  to  the  Congress,  to  the 
Gallic  empire,  to  Europe,  and  to  the  world,  to  the  present 
and  distant  ages.  And,  should  you  now  lay  down  your 
office  and  retire  from  public  life,  we  trust  that  you  may 
take  this  people  to  record,  in  the  language  in  which  that 
holy  patriot,  the  pious  Samuel,  addressed  Israel,  and  say 
unto  us:°  "I  am  old  and  gray-headed,  and  I  have  walked 
before  you  from  my  childhood  unto  this  day.  Behold, 
here  I  am  ;  witness  against  me  before  the  Lord  :  whose  ox 
have  I  taken  ?  or  whose  ass  have  I  taken  ?  or  whom  have 

a  1733,  elected  representative;    1740,  elected   into  the  council;    1766,  elected 
deputy-governor;  1769,  elected  governor, 
b  Esth.  iv.  14.  c  1  Sam.  xii.  2. 


THE   FUTURE    GLORY   OP   THE   UNITED   STATES.        509 

I  defrauded  ?  whom  have  I  oppressed  ?  or  of  whose  hand 
have  I  received  any  bribe,  to  blind  mine  eyes  therewith  ? 
and  I  will  restore  it  you.  And  they  said,  Thou  hast  not 
defrauded  nor  oppressed  us,  neither  hast  thou  taken  aught 
of  any  man's  hand.  And  he  said  unto  them.  The  Lord  is 
witness  against  you,  and  his  anointed  is  witness  this  day, 
that  ye  have  not  found  aught  in  my  hand.  And  they 
answered,  He  is  witness." 

May  you  receive  a  reward  from  the  Supreme  Governor 
of  the  universe,  which  will  be  a  reward  of  grace.  For, 
although  your  Excellency  might  adopt  the  words  of  that 
illustrious  governor,  Nehemiah,  and  say,  "  Think  upon  me, 
my  God,  for  good,  according  to  all  that  I  have  done  for 
this  people,"  "*  yet  your  ultimate  hope  for  immortality  will 
be  founded  in  a  more  glorious  merit  than  that  achieved 
by  mortals  in  the  most  illustrious  scenes  of  public  useful- 
ness. May  the  momentary  remnant  of  your  days  be 
crowned  with  a  placid  tranquillity ;  and,  when  you  shall 
have  finished  your  work  on  earth,  may  you  be  received  to 
the  rewards  of  the  just,  and  shine  in  the  general  assembly 
of  the  first-born  through  eternal  ages.     Amen.^ 

To    THE    LlEUTEI^^ANT    GOVERNOE    AND    CoUNCIL  : 

With  great  respect  would  I  next  address  myself  to  his 
Honor  Lieutenant-Governor  Griswold,^  and  the  rest  of  the 
honorable  Councillors  of  this  State. 

May  it  please  your  Honor ^  and  the  other  Members  of  the 
Honorable  Council:  That  senatorial  order  must  be  truly 

a  Neh.  v.  19. 

1  He  died  August  17,  1785,  aged  seventy-foiir.  "We  add  "Washington's 
tribute:  "A  long  and  well-spent  life  in  the  service  of  his  country  places  Gov- 
ernotr  Trumbull  among  the  first  of  patriots."  Mr.  I.  W.  Stuart's  "  Life"  of  the 
Governor,  1859,  1  vol.  8vo,  pp.  700.  —  Ed. 

2  Matthew  Griswold,  afterwards  governor,  died  1790,  aged  eighty-three, 
—  Ed. 

43* 


510  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION    SERMON,    1783. 

im{)ortant  which  stands  upon  the  general  voice  and  elec- 
tion of  the  pul)lic  at  large,  because  it  must  comprehend 
men  of  such  public  and  conspicuous  merit  as  to  be  known 
among  all  our  tribes  —  men  of  approved  patriotism  and 
wisdom,  as  well  as  popularity.  We  esteem  it  our  happi- 
ness that  our  governors  and  our  nobles  proceed  from  our- 
selves. When  we  consider  the  trifling  and  inferior  charac- 
ters of  the  most  of  the  venal  counsellors  in  the  late  royal 
governments,  when  compared  with  the  solid  wisdom  of  the 
council  of  this  state,  we  may  be  convinced  that  a  Legisla- 
ture standing  upon  a  free  election  of  the  people  to  be  gov- 
erned, bids  fair  to  ensure  more  wisdom  and  incorruptibility 
than  if  in  the  appointment  of  the  most  august  sovereigns 
in  the  world. 

We  glory  in  it  that  this  state  has  at  all  times  furnished 
gentlemen,  in  the  appointment  of  the  people,  of  abilities 
equal  to  every  department  and  branch  of  dominion,  whether 
legislative  or  executive.  It  is  particularly  happy  that  men 
impressed  with  the  feelings  of  the  people,  of  great  knowl- 
edge in  laws  and  jurisprudence,  in  the  civil  polity  espe- 
cially of  this  state,  have  hitherto  been  and  still  are  found 
at  the  council-board,  in  the  military  departments,  and  in 
the  highest  judiciary  tribunals  of  this  commonwealth. 

This  state  has  ever  preserved  a  grave,  sensible,  and 
weighty  council,  in  a  pretty  delicate  situation  indeed,  but 
of  great  prudence  and  influential  wisdom.  It  is  this  coun- 
cil which  combines  and  consolidates  the  ^vhole  common- 
wealth. 

The  general  anniversary  election  dictates  annually  the 
general  sense  of  the  community.  And  while  a  rotation  to 
a  considerable  degree,  though  not  by  constitution,  yet  by 
usage,  and  the  mutability  of  the  human  passions,  and  in 
the  course  of  events,  does  in  eflfect  take  place,  we  have 
been  happy,  however,  and  I  hope  always  shall  be,  in  the 


THE   FUTURE   GLORY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.       511 

retention  of  a  number  of  ancient  and  venerable  council- 
lors to  transmit  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  their  pre- 
decessors, and  to  give  a  steady  and  immutable  complexion 
to  the  succession  in  the  General  Assembly,  especially  as  to 
the  capital  matters  of  law,  liberty,  and  government. 

We  glory  in  you,  gentlemen,  as  our  crown  of  rejoicing. 
We  securely  confide  our  liberties  and  safety,  the  civil,  reli- 
gious, and  literary  welfare  of  this  republic,  to  your  super- 
intendence. We  i^ray  God  that  in  all  your  momentous 
deliberations  and  resolutions  you  may  be  guided  by  the 
wisdom  from  above  —  by  the  mighty  Counsellor,  the 
Prince  of  Peace.     Amen. 

To  THE  House  of  Repeesextatives  : 

It  is  my  duty,  in  the  next  place,  to  pay  the  tribute  of 
public  honor  to  the  respectable  and  numerous  body  of  the 
lower  House  of  Assembly,  the  second  branch  in  the  honor- 
able Legislature  and  sovereignty  of  this  state. 

Mr.  Speaker^  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives:  Your  House  is  already  formed  standing  on  the 
free,  local  elections  of  a  free  people.  From  the  character 
of  your  constituents  we  doubt  not  you  bring  with  you  the 
love  of  liberty,  justice,  and  public  right.  Assembled  from 
all  our  tribes  to  consult  the  public  good,  so  far  as  this  is 
left  to  your  judgment,  you  will  act  with  well-informed  wis- 
dom and  integrity ;  while,  so  far  as  you  know  the  minds  of 
your  constituents,  may  we  not  presume  that  you  will  hold 
it  your  duty  to  act  and  represent  their  judgments,  be  your 
own  as  they  may  ?  You  have  matters  of  high  moment  to 
attend  to,  and  some  of  a  very  insidious  nature.     Besides 


1  In  the  second  edition,  1785,  the  author  adds  this  note:  "The  Hon.  Col. 
William  Williams,  Member  of  Congress  at  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence."— Ed. 


512  DR.   STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,  1783. 

matters  of  internal  government^  a  liquidation  of  the  ex- 
penditures of  the  \Y^\\  Jina)ice^  revenue^  funds^  are  some  of 
the  subjects  before  this  Assembly.  It  is  not  impossible  but 
you  may  perceive  some  hovering  genius,  something  of  an 
anti-American  spirit,  flitting  about,  and  at  times  alighting 
upon  some  within  the  walls  of  the  Senate.  Will  you  not 
hunt  it  down,  and  send  it  to  the  shades?  May  you  all  be 
inspired  with  a  real,  hearty,  and  uncorrupted  patriotism 
and  firmness  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  independence. 
Let  an  independent  liberality  of  sentiment,  and  reverence 
for  right  and  equity,  reign  in  this  branch  of  the  Senate, 
that  the  world  may  see  that  the  administration  of  the 
united  branches  combined  in  the  sovereignty  of  this  state 
is  conducted  with  a  certain  plain  but  noble  dignity  and 
majesty. 

This  Assembly,  at  every  session  for  eight  years  past,  has 
been  full  of  the  most  anxious  and  weighty  concerns  for  our 
bleeding  country.  But  this  House  is  no  more  called  to 
raise  armies,  or,  amidst  the  most  complicated  distresses,  to 
devise  means  for  their  support.  What  a  load,  what  a  bur- 
den and  weighty  care  has  devolved  upon  this  House  through 
the  war!  But  these  conflicts  are  at  an  end,  and  you  will 
be  now  called  to  the  arts  of  peace,  and  to  promote  the 
welfare  and  aggrandizement  of  our  country. 

And  while  this  honorable  House  is  attending  to  the  sec- 
ular concerns  of  civil  government,  may  we  not  humbly 
wish  that  you  would  not  repudiate  the  idea  of  being  nurs- 
ing fathers  to  our  spiritual  Israel,  the  church  of  God 
within  this  state?  Give  us,  gentlemen,  the  decided  assur- 
ance that  you  are  friends  of  the  churches,  and  that  you  are 
the  friends  of  the  pastors,  wlio  have  certainly  in  this  try- 
ing warfare  approved  themselves  the  friends  of  liberty  and 
government.^     Your  predecessors,  one  hundred  years  ago, 

1  See  p.  437,  and  note.  —  Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.       513 

accounted  this  among  their  principal  honors.  They  were 
solicitous  to  promote  religion  and  learning,  and  to  give 
suitable  encouragement  to  both. 

And,  in  this  connection,  will  it  be  forgiven  me  if  I 
humbly  recommend  Yale  College  to  the  smiles  of  govera- 
ment  ?  Through  the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us,  we 
may  truly  say,  in  the  language  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets 
to  Elisha,  "  Behold,  now,  the  place  where  we  dwell  is  too 
strait  for  us."  *  May  we  not  humbly  ask  of  the  public  that 
they  would  be  pleased  to  build  us  another  house,  or  the 
necessary  edifices  for  the  reception  and  accommodation 
of  the  youth,  but  about  one-third  of  the  students  being 
provided  for  in  the  present  college  edifice  ?  Was  I  not  so 
nearly  connected  with  it,  I  might  say  with  truth,  what  has 
often  been  told  me  by  others,  that  there  is  not  a  state  upon 
the  continent  but  would  account  such  a  seat  of  learning, 
in  whose  hands  soever  it  might  be,  as  an  illustrious  orna- 
ment to  their  community. 

A  trust  may  be  well  executed  when  the  end  of  the  trust 
is  answered,  althoui^h  there  may  have  intervened  some 

'  O  ml 

mismanagements.  Small  bodies  as  well  as  great,  not  even 
congresses  and  assemblies,  —  and,  may  I  not  add,  not  even 
this  honorable  assembly  excepted,  —  are  not  only  frequently 
aspei-sed  and  censured,  but  have  sometimes  eiTcd;  so, 
perhaps,  have  the  governors  of  the  college :  when,  how- 
ever, upon  a  candid  inquiry,  it  may  be  found  that  in 
money  concerns  they  have  managed  with  an  unexampled 
frugality,  even  to  pai*simony,  that  never  was  there  more 
done  to  purpose  with  so  small  means  in  a  literary  institu- 
tion, and  that  the  college  is  at  present  in  a  pretty  flour- 
ishing state.  At  my  accession,  in  1778,  the  number  of 
matriculated  undergraduates  in  the  four  classes  was  one 
hundred  and  nineteen,  and  this  current  year  they  have 

a  2  Kings  ri.  1. 


514  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SERMON,   1783. 

been  two  hundred  and  fifty-one/  And  in  point  of  schol- 
arship and  literature,  I  hope  we  do  not  fall  very  far  behind 
the  other  sister  colleges  in  America. 

How  happy,  w^ere  its  foundations  and  emoluments  ade- 
quate to  the  civil  and  religious  purposes  of  this  institution! 
An  enlargement  of  the  public  library,  a  complete  apparatus 
for  experimental  philosophy,  premiums  for  stimulating 
genius  in  every  branch  of  literature,  endowments  of  pro- 
fessorships, especially  those  of  philosophy,  law,  and  medi- 
cine, would  be  of  inconceivable  benefit  in  the  liberal 
education  of  youth.  These  things  I  doubt  not  will  be 
efiected  in  time,  but  the  literati  wish  to  see  them  accom- 
plished in  the  present  day. 

The  college  has  often,  since  its  foundation,^  experienced 


a  There  are  ten  colleges  in  the  United  States,  from  New  England  to  Virginia 
inclusive,  besides  two  intended  ones  in  the  Carolinas.  The  numbers  of  under- 
graduates in  the  most  considerable  are  estimated  as  follows : 


Harvard  College,    .    .    .    . 

.    founded  1636, 

.    150  undergraduates. 

William  and  Mary  College, 

n 

1698, 

.    100 

u 

Jersey  College, 

(( 

1746, 

.      60 

(( 

Philadelphia  College,      .    . 

(( 

1755, 

.      30 

(( 

Dartmouth  College,!       .    . 

(( 

1769, 

.      80 

(( 

A.  D.  1700.2 

The  catalogues  show  — 

At  Yale,     .    .    1859  .    . 

.  6,810  g 

raduateg 

and  641  students 

Harvard,  .     I860  .     . 

.  7,110 

« 

"   860 

« 

BroAvn, .     .     1860  .     . 

.  2,043 

(( 

"  232 

l( 

Dartmouth,   1858  .     . 

.  3,068 

" 

"   368 

" 

in  1860 

Williams,  .     1839  .     . 

.  1,995 

" 

"   236 

it 

in  1860 

Bowdoin,  .     1858  .     . 

.  1,284 

" 

Amherst,   .     1857  .     . 

.  1,237 

" 

"   242 

l< 

Seep.  437,  note  1.  — Ed. 

2  The  earliest  entry  on  the  Colonial  Records  in  regard  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  college  bears  date  "  At  a  General  Court,  held  at  Guilford,  June 
28,  1652,"  when  they  passed  a  vote  of  "  thanks  to  Mr.  Goodyear  for  his 
kind  proffer  to  the  setting  forward  such  a  work."  Stephen  Goodyear 
was  Deputy  Governor  of  New  Haven  colony,  and  to  him  seems  to  belong 
the  honorable  distinction  of  making  the  first  offer  to  endow  "  a  college  at 
New  Haven."— Barber's  History  of  New  Haven,  1&31,  p.  20,  and  Hoad- 
ly's  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  1858,  pp.  141,  370,  note.  —Ed. 


THE  FUTURE   GLORY   OF   THE  UNITED   STATES.       515 

the  liberality  and  smiles  of  the  General  Assembly,  for 
which  it  is  always  ready  to  return  and  repeat  its  thanks 
and  gratitude.  Some  unhappy  differences  of  sentiment, 
together  with  the  war,  have  interrupted  the  stream  of 
public  munificence.  But  is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  to 
heal  the  wound  ?  Is  there  no  way  to  accommodate  and 
adjust  matters  so  as  to  conciliate  the  friendship  of  the  state 
towards  its  university  ? 

The  states  of  Holland,  in  the  midst  of  their  expensive 
wars  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  founded  and  endowed  the 
University  of  Leyden.  Should  this  state  be  pleased  to 
endow  two  or  three  professorships,  and  appoint  a  board  of 
civilians  to  elect  the  professors,  in  concurrence  with  the 
present  corporation,  and  see  that  the  moneys  granted  by 
the  state  were  applied  to  the  use  to  which  they  were 
appropriated  by  the  General  Assembly  —  might  this  not 
give  satisfaction? 

But  I  trespass  upon  your  patience.  All  the  great  inter- 
ests of  this  state,  whether  as  a  separate  sovereignty  or  in 
its  connection  with  the  United  States,  are  entrusted  to 
you :  a  very  weighty  trust.  You  have  a  thousand  pious 
prayers  going  up  for  you  daily  at  the  throne  of  grace. 
You  have  all  the  patriots  saying,  Be  strong,  O  Zorobabels ! 
You  have  all  the  ministers  inculcating  obedience  to  you. 
And  may  you,  above  all,  have  the  influential  guidance  of 
unerring  Wisdom,  to  render  you  acceptable  to  the  multi- 
tude of  your  brethren,  to  make  you  eminent  blessings  in 
your  day,  and  reward  you  with  immortality  and  glory  in 
the  world  to  come.    Amen. 

To  THE  Ministers  : 

And  I  now  turn  myself  to  the  pastors  of  the  churches. 

Jieverend  and  beloved  Brethren :  I  have  not  assumed 
upon  me  to  dictate  to  the  civil  magistracy,  nor  do  I  dictate 


516  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION    SERMON,   1783. 

to  the  sacerdotal  order,  albeit  I  might  speak  to  the  most 
of  my  brethren  present  as  being  such  a  one  in  years  as 
Paul  the  aged.  Condescend,  however,  holy  brethren,  to 
receive  a  humble  address  from  one  who  loves  the  order 
with  a  sincere   and  fervent  affection,  although  TravTwv  twv 

Permit  me,  then,  to  say,  that,  while  we  do  not  fail  to 
inculcate  obedience  to  the  magistracy  and  laws,  and 
recommend  to  our  people  the  election  of  a  pious  magis- 
tracy, our  principal  work  is  not  secular,  but  spiritual  and 
divine.  Let  us  with  the  greatest  assiduity  devote  our- 
selves to  our  Lord's  work,  as  ambassadors  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  Let  us  preach  the  divinity  and  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ,  and  salvation  by  his  atonement,  that 
theological  system  which  places  the  whole  of  redemption 
upon  free  grace  —  a  grace  free  as  to  us,  though  merited  by 
the  holy  Redeemer.  Let  us  search  the  Scriptures  for  the 
real  evangelical  verity,  and  inquire  not  so  much  for  new 
theories  in  divinity  as  what  truths  were  known  and 
realized  in  fliith  and  life  by  the  primitive  Christians  of  the 
apostolic  age  and  the  three  first  centuries;  and  believe 
that  no  other  system,  no  other  doctrines,  are  essentially 
necessary  to  carry  men  to  heaven  in  these  ages  than  those 
which  enabled  .the  myriads  of  holy  martyrs  to  seal  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  with  their  blood. 

There  is  but  one  true  system  of  theology,  and  this  has 
been  equally  known  in  all  the  Christian  ages.  For  al- 
though great  improvements  and  discoveries  are  daily  mak- 
ing in  philosophy  and  natural  science,  yet  there  have  been 
no  new  discoveries  in  divinity  since  the  apostolic  age  ;  —  I 
do  not  mean  merely  no  new  revelation,  but  of  the  innu- 
merable latent  truths  concealed  in  the  Bible,  —  and  there 
are  infinitely  greater  treasures  hidden  there  than  in  nature, 
—  none  have  been  perceived  in  later  ages  but  what  have 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   517 

been  as  clearly  discerned  by  the  contemplative  theologians 
of  all  ages.  The  sentiments  are  the  same,  though  clothed 
in  different  diction.  Philosophy,  as  I  said,  is  improving ; 
nor  has  the  progress  of  civil  society  yet  reached  its  sum- 
mit; but  divinity,  I  apprehend,  has  been  long  at  a  stand, 
having  ages  ago  come  to  the  highest  perfection  intended 
us  at  present  by  Heaven,  which  did  not  design  any  further 
improvement  in  it  from  the  sealing  of  the  vision  till  the 
second  coming  of  Christ.  In  the  millennium  these  hidden 
treasures  will  be  brought  forth.  But,  for  the  preceding 
period,  divinity  will  be  and  remain  at  a  stand,  except  per- 
haps that  towards  the  close  of  it  the  prophecies  will  disclose 
themselves. 

Religion  has  had  and  will  have  different  fashions,  even 
where  it  is  still  essentially  the  same.  Previous  to  the  tenth 
century  the  writings  of  St.  Augustine  gave  an  extensive 
complexion  to  theology ;  afterwards,  Lombard's  collection 
of  sentences  or  opinions  of  evangelical  divines  ;  but  he  was 
shoved  into  neglect  by  Aquinas,  who  reigned  umpire  till 
the  Reformation.  Luther  followed  Augustine,  and  Calvin 
Aquinas.  The  real  theology  of  Melancthon,  Calvin,  Arch- 
bishop Cranraer,  and  Owen,  was  one  and  the  same. 

We  despise  the  fathers  and  the  pious  and  learned  divines 
of  the  middle  ages ;  pious  posterity  will  do  the  same  by 
us,  and  twirl  over  our  most  favorite  authors  with  the  same 
ignorant  pity  and  neglect.  Happy  they  if  their  favorite 
authors  contain  the  same  blessed  truths ! 

I  rejoice  that  God  has  hitherto  preserved  a  learned  and 
evangelical  ministry  in  these  churches.  The  theology  in 
general  reception  comprehends  all  the  excellent  things  of 
our  common  Christianity.  And  if  some  favorite  hurekas, 
some  fancied  discoveries,  should  be  burnt  up  in  the  day  of 
the  Lord,  yet  there  will  be  left  as  great  an  abundance  of 
precious  stones,  of  the  tried  and  pure  gold  of  truth,  as  in 

44 


518  DR.    STILES'S    ELECTION   SERMON,    1783. 

any  part  of  the  world.  Indeed,  we  have  gotten  all  the 
light  of  Christendom,  and  we  need  no  more.  We  have 
enough  ;  we  are  wealthy  in  sacred  knowledge.  We  may 
spend  long  lives  in  making  ourselves  masters  of  that  vast 
treasure  of  sacred  wisdom  which  holy  men  of  great  light 
have  attained.  May  I  comprehend  with  all  saints  the 
height  and  depth  of  this  knowledge !  May  my  God 
possess  me  of  this  treasure,  and  I  am  content.  All  this 
knowledge,  to  the  greatest  extent  of  the  human  limit,  has 
been  gotten  and  acquired  over  and  over  again  and  again. 
Like  other  science,  to  every  generation  it  seems  new, 
while  it  is  only  possessing  the  knowledge  similar  to  our 
predecessors'. 

Moreover,  charity,  union,  and  benevolence  are  peculiarly 
ornamental  in  the  ministerial  order.  Let  us  cherish  these 
amiable  graces  in  ourselves  and  others.  Let  us  be  faith- 
ful. And  the  nearer  we  come  to  the  solemn  moment 
when  we  must  render  our  account  to  God  the  Judge,  the 
more  may. we  be  quickened  and  animated  in  the  ministry; 
and  think  no  labor,  no  assiduity  too  great,  nothing  too 
much  to  be  done  for  the  salvation  of  precious  and  immor- 
tal souls ;  nothing  too  much  for  the  cause  and  kingdom  of 
Him  who  hath  loved  us  to  the  death.  May  you,  holy 
brethren,  "be  strong  in  the  grace  which  is  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  May  the  work,  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord, 
prosper  in  your  hands.  May  you  be  honored  of  Jesus  to 
turn  many  to  righteousness.  And  when  the  Chief  Shep- 
herd shall  appear,  may  you  receive  a  crown  of  glory  which 
fadeth  not  away.     Amen. 

To  THE  Assembly  at  Large  : 

And  now,  my  fellow-citizens  of  this  independent  repub- 
lic, my  fellow-Christians  of  every  order  and  denomination 
in  this  assembly,  and  all  you  that  fear  God  and  hear  me 
this  day,  give  audience. 


THE  FUTURE  GLORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.    519 

The  Most  High  planted  our  fjithers,  a  small  handful,  in 
this  Jeshimon,  and  lo  !  we,  their  j^osterity,  have  arisen  up 
to  three  millions  of  people.*  Our  ears  have  heard,  and 
our  fathers  have  told  us,  the  marvellous  things  God  did  for 
them  ;  but  our  eyes  have  seen  far  more  marvellous  things 
done  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad  and  rejoice  this  day. 
Should  our  ancestors  look  down  from  the  high  abodes  of 
Paradise  into  this  assembly,  and  attend  to  the  things 
which  we  have  been  this  day  commemorating,  methinks 
they  might  catch  a  sensation  of  joy  at  beholding  the  reign, 
the  triumph,  of  liberty  on  earth.  Hitherto  has  "  our  bow 
abode  in  strength,  and  our  arms  been  made  strong  by  the 
hands  of  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob."  And  while,  amidst 
the  festivity  of  this  Anniversary  Election,  we  congratulate 
one  another  and  our  country  upon  the  cessation  of  hostil- 
ities, and  that,  having  fought  the  good  fight,  our  warfare 
is  ended,  let  us  not  fail  to  look  through  providence  up  to 
the  God. of  providence,  and  give  glory  to  God  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  the  God  of  our  fathers,  whom  "let  us  serve  with  a 
perfect  heart  and  a  willing  mind."  Let  us  cultivate  and 
cherish  the  virtues  of  the  divine  as  well  as  civil  life,  bear- 
ing in  mind  that  we  are  all  hastening  to  that  period  wherein 
all  the  glories  of  this  world  will  be  swallowed  up  and  lost 
in  the  glories  of  immortality.  Be  it  our  great  ambition, 
our  incessant  endeavor,  to  act  our  parts  worthily  on  the 
stage  of  life,  as  looking  for  and  hastening  to  the  coming 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  May  we  be  prepared  for  the 
solemnities  of  a  far  more  august  assembly  than  the  most 
si)lendid  assembly  on  earth.  We  are  ardently  pursuing 
this  world's  riches,  honors,  powers,  pleasures ;  let  us  pos- 
sess them,  and  then  know  that  they  are  nothing,  nothing, 
nothing.     They  serve  a  temporary  gratification,  evanish, 

a  Deut.  X.  22.1 

1  See  p.  211,  note  1.  —  Ed. 


520  DR.    STILES'S   ELECTION   SEKMON,   1783. 

and  are  no  more.  But  we  cannot  be  dissuaded  from  the 
pursuit.  Death,  however,  kindly  ends  it.  Let  us  think 
that  we  have  two  worlds  to  live  for,  2:>i'oportion  our  atten- 
tion to  their  respective  interests,  and  we  shall  be  happy 
forever.  We  shall  then  be  prepared  to  shine  in  the  assem- 
bly of  the  just,  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Sovereign  of  Life. 
How  glorious  to  bear  a  part  in  the  triumphs  of  virtue,  the 
triumphs  of  the  Redeemer,  in  the  last  day  of  the  great 
and  general  assembly  of  the  universe !  How  glorious  to 
make  a  part  of  that  infinitely  honored  and  dignified  body 
which,  clothed  with  the  Redeemer's  righteousness  and 
walking  in  white  robes,  shall  be  led  by  the  Messiah 
through  the  shining  ranks  of  archangels,  seraphims,  and 
the  innumerable  hosts  of  the  whole  assembled  univei-se, 
up  to  the  throne  of  God ;  and,  being  presented  to  and 
received  by  the  triune  Jehovah,  shall  be  seated  with  Jesus 
in  his  throne  at  the  summit  of  the  universe,  to  the  con- 
si^icuous  view  and  for  the  eternal  contemplation  of  the 
whole  intellectual  world,  as  an  everlasting  monument  of 
sovereign  grace !  "  to  the  intent  that  now  unto  the  prin- 
cipalities and  powers  in  the  heavenly  places  might  be 
known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  ac- 
cording to  the  eternal  purpose  which  he  purposed  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord:"*^  to  whom  be  glory  in  the  church  through 
the  never-ending  succession  of  eternal  ages.     Amen. 

a  Eph.  iii.  10,  11. 


INDEX. 


Aberdeen  University,  honors  to  Dr, 
Mayhew,  46. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis, 

Adams,  John,  on  Church  of  England, 
XXX. ;  and  Thomas  Hollis,  xxxii. ;  on 
character  of  Dr.  Mayhew,  44;  on  the 
"molasses  act,"  112;  account  of  the 
council  chamber,  113,  153;  on  the 
stamp-act  riot,  132;  on  sermons  of 
Dr.  Chauncy  and  Dr.  Mayhew,  134; 
address  to  George  III.,  vi. ;  reply  of 
George  III.  to,  149 ;  on  Duche-s  prayer, 
219;  of  the  Massachusetts  council,  266; 
on  education.  337;  on  rebellion,  75, 
251,445;  ambassador,  454 ;  declaration 
of  independence,  554;  "armed  neu- 
trality," 457;  the  future,  465;  Austria, 
465. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  on  the  American 
Revolution,  xxix. 

Adams,  Samuel,  clerk  of  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, 155, 173 ;  rep.  Boston. 182 ; 
committees  of  correspondence,  191; 
committeeforreliefof  poor  of  Boston, 
199;  delegate  to  Congress  at  Philadel- 
phia, 219,  251 ;  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, 221;  "The  Adams,"  221,  453; 
Dec.  lud.,  454. 

Adams,  Rev.  Z.,  preaches  to  the  min- 
ute-men, xxxvii. 

African  trade,  "  iniquitous,"  431. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  164. 

"  Albany  Plan  of  Union,"  126. 

Alexandria,  Va.,  generosity  of,  198. 

Alfred,  King,  334. 

Allen,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  180,  358,  479, 
492. 

Allibone,  S.  Austin,  account  of  Hol- 
lis, xxxii. ;  Critical  Dictionary  cited, 
235,  461;  his  account  of  Alex.  Hamil- 
ton, 427,  490. 

44* 


Allston,  "Washington,  461. 

Amboy,  N.  J.,  Lord  Sterling  at,  217. 

America  and  England,  unity  of,  hi.,  iv., 
vi.,  116, 130-134, 143, 184, 185,  229, 230, 
247,  265,  433,  455. 

America,  commerce  of,  monopolized 
by  England,  107,  111,  116;  its  course, 
127;  source  of  England's  wealth,  127; 
how  affected  by  the  Revolution,  136, 
185,  189,  204,  206,  222;  value  of,  230; 
increase  of,  338;  Hamilton's  influence 
on,  427;  statistics  of,  428—432;  Dr. 
Stiles's  predictions  of,  fulfilled,  463; 
first  voyage  to  Canton,  463. 

"America, the  Book  of,"  115 — 117. 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  its  establishment  suggested 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Payson,  408. 

American  Antiquarian  Society,  v., 
408. 

American  Army,  artillery  of,  221 ;  pat- 
riotic, 327,  442;  suifering  of,  327;  its 
successes  and  defeats,  442—445. 

"American  Association"  of  Con- 
gress, 214. 

American  Colonies,  poverty  of,  123, 
124,  127,  184;  "  not  afraid  of  poverty, 
but  cisdain  slavery,"  193,  222,  224; 
union  of,  215,  255,  264,  327,  347,  445. 

American  Revolution,  463,  464. 

American  Statistical  Association, 
459. 

Amherst  College,  514. 

Amphictyonic  Council,  422,  458. 

Anarchy,  206,  251,  253. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  175 — 177. 

Ann,  Cape,  xx.,  225. 

Apthorp,  Rev.  Mr.,  "  missionary,"  etc., 
100. 

Arkwright,  of  England,  432. 

"  Armed  Neutrality,"  the,  446,  457. 


522 


INDEX 


Arnold,  S.  G.,  "  History  of  Rhode 

Island,"  306. 
Assistance,  writs  of,  112, 113. 
Austin,  Beuj.,  265,  351,  388. 

Babson,  J.  J.,  History  of  Gloucester, 
447. 

Backus,  Rev.  Isaac,  182,  298,  299. 

Bacon,  Lord,  334,  416,  424. 

Bacon,  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard,  477. 

Bailey,  Rev.  Jacob,  "missionary," 
etc.,  100. 

Baker,  Samuel,  351,  388. 

Baltimore,  patriotism  of,  198;  second 
American  voyage  to  Canton,  464. 

Banca,  Florida,  "armed  neutrality," 
458. 

Bancroft,  George,  History  of  United 
States,  131,  132,  138,  235,  459,  461. 

Baptists,  the,  182,  218,  299. 

"  Barclay's  Apology,"  xxx. 

Barlow,  Aaron,  253. 

Barlow,  Joel,  notice  of,  486. 

Barnard,  Henry,  461. 

Barnstable  County,  Mass.,  revolu- 
tionary spirit  of,  252. 

Barre,  Col.  Isaac,  "  sons  of  liberty," 
131;  portrait  of,  132;  eulogized,  138; 
his  prophesy,  198. 

Barry,  J.  S.,  History  of  Massachusetts, 
331,  358. 

Bartlett,  Josiah,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Bartlett,  Rev.  Wm.  S.,  memoir  of 
Bailey,  100. 

Bath  and  Wells,  See  of,  x.,  xvi. 

Beadle,  William,  deist,  suicide,  502. 

Belcher,  Gov.,  picture  of,  154. 

Belknap,  Rev.  Dr.,  125. 

Berkeley,  Dean,  408,  409. 

Bernard,  Governor,  114;  thanksgiving 
proclamation,  1766,  character  of,  117; 
his  admiiii.'^tration,  151—153, 180;  tory 
partisan,  165;  his  letters,  167,  179. 

Beverley,  first  cotton-mill  at,  336. 

Bible,  the,  political  text-book,  xix., 
202 ;  "  resolve  "  of  Congress  to  import 
20,000  copies,  327,  375 ;  remarks  on  by 
Dr.  Stiles,  462;  by  Mr.  Geo.  V.  Marsh, 
462:  Bible  Societies,  462;  Austria,  464. 

BiGELOw,  Timothy,  194. 

Bishops,  "  no  real  danger"  of  them  in 
America,  xxx. ;  Dr.  Mayhew's  opin- 
ion of  them,  71;  plotting,  110, 192;  in 


Canada,  216,  217;  excluded  from  par- 
liament, XX. ;  "  no  bishop,  no  king," 
103. 

Blackstone's  "Commentaries"  in 
America,  xxvii. 

Blacksmiths,  convention  of,  194. 

BOLLAN,  tory  letters,  167. 

"  Book  op  Sports,"  90. 

Books  on  government  in  New  England, 
xxxiv. 

Boston,  England,  tribute  to  John  Cot- 
ton, xxi. ;  name  of,  xxii. 

Boston,  N.  E.,  chh.  of,  xx.;  lawyers, 
xxvii.;  resists  revenue  laws,  112, 152; 
council  chamber,  113;  stamp  act, 
120;  poverty  of,  124,  198;  taxes,  126; 
pictures  of  Barre  and  Conway,  132; 
"  massacre,"  153 ;  resolves,  154, 199,218, 
229;  slavery,  182;  assisted  by  "  all  the 
colonies,"  199;  "Thursday  lecture," 
188;  "  committee  of  correspondence," 
191;  town  meetings,  192;  "  port-bill," 
192, 198, 201, 213—221 ,  263 ;  poor  of,  221 ; 
effects  of  Gen.  Gage's  treachery,  230, 
248;  evacuated,  265,  310;  seamen  of, 
306;  besieged,  325;  foreign  trade,  429; 
first  American  voyage  to  Canton,  463. 

BowDOiN,  101;  James,  156;  councillor, 
199,205,388;  in  congress,  251;  Stiles, 
453. 

BowDOiN  College,  101,  514. 

Bowers,  J.,  of  the  council,  156. 

Boyle,  Robert,  489. 

Bradbury,  John,  councillor,  156. 

Bradford,  Gamaliel,  councillor,  156. 

Bradford's  Life  of  Mayhew,  88, 
103. 

Bradshaw,  the  tyrannicide,  97. 

Bradstreet,  Simon,  agent  to  England, 
xxii. ;  portrait  of,  154. 

Brattle,  Wm.,  councillor,  156, 

Braxton,  Carter,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Bridgewater,  Mass.,  358. 

Briggs,  Nath.  patriot,  253. 

Bristol-county  Courts  interrupted 
in  1774,  252. 

British  Army  in  Boston,  152, 165, 189; 
eflect  of,  190,  199,  230;  appeal  to,  220; 
the  first  to  shed  blood,  223,  229,  411; 
at  Concord,  236,  237 ;  at  Saratoga,  346, 
347;  at  Bunker  Hill,  441;  successes 
and  defeats  of,  443,  444. 

Britons  jealous  of  their  liberties,  94. 


INDEX 


523 


Brooks,  Rev.  Charles,  History  of  Med- 
ford,  xi. 

Brooks,  Eleazer,  councillor,  351,  388. 

Brown,  of3Iassacbusetts  Congress,  231. 

Brown  University,  514. 

Brunswick,  Gen.  Howe  at,  444. 

Bryant,  Wm.  C,  461. 

Buchanan,  President,  letter  on  politi- 
cal corruption,  436,  vi. 

BULKLEY,  Rev.  Peter,  of  Concord,  477, 
480. 

Bunker  Hill,  441. 

BuRGOYNE,  Gen.,  condemns  the  war, 
109;  anecdote  of,  325;  at  Saratoga, 
326,  327,  346,  444 ;  sent  home,  443. 

Burke,  Edmund,  on  education  in 
America,  xxvii. ;  on  taxing  the  colo- 
nies,ill,  206,  307;  on  repeal  of  stamp- 
act,  122,  141,  142;  on  colonial  repre- 
sentation, 123;  prerogative,  244;  co- 
lonial military  service,  125;  slave  in- 
surrection, 214;  colonial  trade,  127, 
136;  kindred  blood,  130;  George  III,, 
149,244;  Dr.  Stiles,  430. 

Burlington,  Rev.  Sara'l  Sewall,  477. 

Bushnell,  submarine  navigation,  460. 

Bute,  455,  456. 

»  Calvin's  Works"  in  New  England, 

XXX.,  517. 
Cambridge,  session,  173, 182, 190,  308; 

college,  236;  Washington,  262;  army, 

447.    See  Harvard  College. 
Camden,  Lord,  anecdote,  94;  against 

taxing  America,  109,  133;  eulogized, 

138. 
Canada,  effect  of  conquest,  107,  145, 

183,  432,  471,  486;    crusade,  108,  132; 

Roman  Catholic  bishop  and  the  civil 

government,  193,  216,  217;    a  check 

upon  New  England,  iv.,  258. 
Canton,  first  American  voyage  to,  1784, 

463. 
Carlyle,  Thos.,  on  the  regicides,  93 ; 

memory  of  Cromwell,  96. 
Carr,  and  Cartwright,  royal  commis- 
sioners to  New  England,  175. 
Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrollton,  Dec. 

Ind.,  454. 
Carver,  Indian  population,  411. 
Cavendish's  debates  ou  Quebec  bill, 

217. 
Chace,  Samuel,  Dec.  lud.,  454. 


Chadbourn,  Benj.,  councillor,  266. 

Channing,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.,  tribute  to 
President  Stiles,  400. 

Charles  I.,  "confirmed"  Massachu- 
setts Patent,  xi.,  224;  promotes  Laud, 
xi.;  a  tyrant,  91,  93,  95;  discourse  on 
his  "  martyrdom,"  by  Dr.  Mayhew, 
40, 104, 160;  by  Milton,  62,  63;  by  Fox, 
Godwin,  Stiles,  Carlyle,  93;  Langdon, 
239 ;  anniversary  of,  in  New  England, 
88,  334;  its  origin,  97,  98;  his  "Crom- 
well," 134;  Stiles,  399. 

Charles  II. 's  parliament  "  run  loyally 
mad,"  96;  portrait  of  in  council  cham- 
ber, Massachusetts,  114,  154 ;  anxious 
for  "  Christian  religion  "  in  New  Eng- 
land, 175;  his  partisans,  197. 

Charleston,  S.  C,  resolves  of  com- 
mon interest  with  Massachusetts,  199. 

Charlestown,  Mass.,  223,  257;  burnt, 
306,  325,  452. 

Charters,  colonial,  of  Massachusetts, 
xvii.,  xxii. — xxv.,  155;  "compacts," 
108;  annulled,  110, 175. 

Chastelleux,  the  Marquis  de,445;  his 
"  Travels,"  450. 

Chatham,  the  Earl  of,  on  the  colonists 
of  America,  xxix.,  xxx.;  the  friend 
of,  145;  "  the  death  of,"  145;  hated  by 
George  III.,  149;  admiration  of  the 
statesmen  of  the  Revolution,  194;  de- 
nounces the  ministry,  326;  parlia- 
mentary corruption,  385. 

Chauncy,  Charles,  councillor,  266. 

Chauncy,  Rev.  Charles,  480. 

Chauncy,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  sermon  on  re- 
peal of  the  stamp  act,  106,  136,  149; 
endorsed  by  President  John  Adams, 
134;  Burke,  136;  his  character,  114. 

Chelsea,  "action  at,"  256;  Payson, 
328. 

Chesapeake,  providential  coinci- 
dence, 444. 

Chester,  Bishop  of,  479,  480. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  "letters,"  379, 
501. 

Child,  Mr.  Josiah,  430. 

Child,  Robert,  xii. 

Choate,  Stephen,  councillor,  388. 

"  Church  and  State,"  ix.,  x.,  xix., 
xxix.,  101,  145. 

Church  op  England,  as  related  to 
the  American  colonies,  x. — xiv. ;  trib- 


524 


INDEX 


ute  to  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  xxi., 
xxii.,  xxix. ;  "attempt  to  land  in 
America,"  xxx.— xxxii.,  192;  "Ox- 
ford homily,*'  41,  65,  71,  197,  199,  217, 
230,  229,  304;  "Dr.  Sacheverell,"  84; 
Cliarles  the  martyr,  88,  98— 103;  Vir- 
ginia, 110,  218;  Boston,  154,  160;  Isew 
England,  175,  177,  193,  257,  326,  473, 
see  Quebec  bill ;  future,  467,  479. 
ClBBER,  498. 

Cicero,  Dr.  Mayhew,  46,  498. 

Civil  Government,  Christian  basis 
of,  53,  58—62,  67 ;  apostolic  teachings 
on,  54,  56,  64,  66,  67,  69,  70,  73,  74,  75, 
78;  errors  of  apostolic  time,  55,  59,  68, 
69;  ordained  of  God,  56,  57,  58,  60,  61, 
64,  65,  70,  71,  73,  74,  77;  not  in  spirit- 
ual matters,  58,  65;  only  for  the  good 
of  society,  56,  60,  61,  63,  66—71,  73—76, 
78;  passive  obedience,  53,  54,  57,  60, 
61,  63,  64,  68,  69,  74;  resistance,  59, 
60—66,  69,  71—75,  77,  78,  82,  see  "Ty- 
rannicide " ;  "  the  powers  that  be," 
61;  is  from  and  of  the  people,  61,  62; 
"the  established  church,"  64,  65,71, 
72;  rulers  should  be  good  men,  70,  77. 

Clap,  President,  comets,  460. 

Clarendon,  Lord,  Charles  the  martyr 
and  "  our  blessed  Saviour  "!  42,  175. 

Clark,  Abraham,  Dec.  lud.,  454. 

Clark,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  S.,  "  History  of  the 
Congregational  Churches,"  479. 

Clarke,  Rev.  R.  W.,  notice  of  Presi- 
dent Langdon,  232. 

Clay,  Henry,  on  political  corruption, 
436. 

Clergy,  x.,  xix.,  xxxv.,  xxxvii.,  71, 
110,  475,  480. 

Clinton,  General,  325,  443,  444,  453. 

Clymer,  George.  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Cole,  Thomas,  461. 

Colleges  in  America,  xxxiv.,  437,  444, 
514;  see  Goodyeare,  514. 

Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  xiii. 

Commissioners  to  New  England,  from 
Charles  II.,  175,  176. 

CoNANT,  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
xi.;  letter  to  the  Rev.  John  "White, 
of  Dorchester,  xv. 

Concord,  Mass.,  Congress,  194,  308; 
April  19th,  223.  230,  235,  236,  248,  477. 

Confederation,  the,  327. 

Connecticut,    123;    military   service, 


125;  "  sons  of  liberty,"  131 ;  people  of, 
205 ;  population  in  1775, 211 ;  common 
schools,  368;  Congregationalism,  375; 
election  sermon,  307;  Dr.  Stiles,  400; 
polity,  421;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  its 
origin,  358. 

Continental  Congress,  163;  Lord 
Chatham,  194, 199;  Gen.  Gage's  letter 
to,  200,  211,  214;  wisdom  of,  215,  453; 
help  for  Boston,  221 ;  delegates  to,  251 ; 
advice  to  Massachusetts,  261;  grant 
letters  of  marque,  262;  John  Han- 
cock, 334;  the  army,  357,  442. 

Conway,  Gen.,  moves  for  the  repeal  of 
the  stamp  act,  142. 

Cook,  Rev.  Samuel,  election  sermon, 
1776,  147;  notice  of,  155- 

Cooper,  see  Smithsonian  Institute,  440. 

Copley,  145,  461. 

CoRNWALLis,  Lord,  444,  445. 

"  Correspondence,  committees  of," 
suggested  by  Rev.  Dr.  Mayhew,  44, 
199,  455. 

Cotton,  the  Rev.  John,  xiv. ;  chief  man 
in  forming  the  polity  of  Massachu- 
setts, XX. ;  letter  from  Cromwell, 
tribute  to  his  memory,  xxi. ;  church 
of  England,  xxii. ;  founder  of  the 
"  Boston  Thursday  Lecture,"  188;  re- 
ordained  by  Gov.  Winthrop,  476. 

Cotton-gin,  industrial  and  political 
importance  of  the  invention,  412. 

Council  Chamber  of  Massachusetts, 
113. 

Courts  in  Massachusetts  suppressed, 
252. 

Cradock,  Mathewe,  first  governor  of 
the  Massachusetts  "  Company,"  xi., 
xxiii.;  his  house  at  Medford,  xi. ;  let- 
ter to  Gov.  Endecott,  xvi. 

Cranmer,  George,  letter  to  Richard 
Hooker  on  "  Brownism,"  xiv.,  517. 

Credit,  bills  of  public,  262,  357 ;  depre- 
ciation of,  358,  391. 

Cromwell,  iii.;  an  "Independent," 
xiv. ;  letter  to  the  Rev.  Jolin  Cotton, 
XX.;  John  Hancock,  xxxiv.;  death 
of  Charles  I..  96;  Patrick  Henry,  134, 
308.  334;  "  Commonwealth  Club,"  404. 

Crown  Point  captured,  145 

CuRTis's  "  Progress  of  Baptist  Princi- 
ples," 218. 


INDEX 


525 


Cttshixg,  Caleb,  councillor,  264,  265, 
351. 

CusHiNG,  Joseph,  councillor,  266. 

CuSHiNG,  Nathan,  councillor,  351,  388. 

CtrsHiNG,  Thomas,  speaker  of  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives, 
155;  rep.  from  Boston,  182;  delegate 
to  Continental  Congress,  251;  coun- 
cillor, 265,  a51,  388, 

Cutler,  Timothy,  president  of  Yale 
College,  '-obtains  episcopal  ordina- 
tion," etc.,  100. 

CuTTS,  Edward,  councillor,  388. 

Cypriani's  engraving  of  Dr.  May  hew, 
46. 

Dalrtmple,  Col.,  154. 

DA^•A,  Francis,  councillor,  265,  351. 

Daxforth,  Samuel,  councillor,  156. 

Danielson,  Timothy,  councillor,  351, 
358. 

Dan  VERS,  deacon,  minister,  and  min- 
ute-men, xxxvi. 

Dartmouth's,  Lord,  misrepresenta- 
tions corrected  by  Dr.  Franklin,  192, 

Dartmouth,  the  Kev,  Dr.  West,  of, 
265. 

Dartmouth  College,  514. 

Davenport,  Eev.  John,  "  learned  and 
courtly,''  476,  480. 

Davis,  Daniel,  councillor,  266,  351,  388. 

Dawson,  Rev.  Dr.,  reads  "book  of 
sports,"  90. 

Dawson,  Henry  B.,  "Battles  of  the 
United  States,"  235,  346. 

D'EsTAiNG,  465. 

Dehon,  101. 

De  Kalb,  "  martyr  general,"  451. 

Delaware,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Delaware,  equality  of  all  sects  in,  375 ; 
system  of  representation  in,  420. 

Demosthenes,  studied  by  Dr.  May- 
hew,  xlvi. 

Dennison,  Thomas,  479. 

Democracy  of  "  Independence,"  xiv., 
xix. 

Denominations,  religious,  in  United 
States,  467^69,  472,"  493. 

Dexter,  Samuel,  councillor,  156. 

DiGHTON  Rock,  inscription,  410. 

Divine  Providence,  recognized  by 
Washington  in  his  "  first  official  act," 
140—144, 173,  190,  207;  at  Louisburg, 


210;  in  the  "  marvellous  "  harmony  of 
the  colonies,  222,  240;  in  the  war,  255, 
256;  in  "raising  up"  Washington, 
442,  448,  and  ''  the  spirit  of  military 
discipline  through  the  continent  like 
lightning,'' 442;  '"in  tlie  glorious  act 
of  Independence,  sealed  and  con- 
firmed by  God  Almighty,"  443;  in  the 
detection  of  Arnold,  etc.  etc.,  444, 460, 
464,  519,  iv. 

DixwELL,  the  tyrannicide,  finds  a  ref- 
uge in  Kew  England,  xx, ;  life  of,  by 
Dr.  Stiles,  xxxiv. 

Dorchester,  England,  seat  of  colonial 
enterprise,  xi. ;  Rev.  John  White,  xv. 

Dorr,  Joseph,  councillor,  388. 

Doty,  John,  patriot  of  Barnstable 
county,  253. 

Downing,  George,  the  "Navigation 
Acts,"  107. 

Drake's  History  of  Boston,  101;  Barre 
and  Conway,  132;  repeal  of  stamp 
act,  138. 

Draper,  Dr.  John  William,  461. 

DucHE,  Rev.  Jacob,  prays  in  congress, 
proposes  treason  to  Washington,  and 
then  leaves  his  country,  219. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  president  of  Massa- 
chusetts, 1686,  76. 

DuLFELDT's  voyage,  408. 

Durfee,  Thomas,  councillor,  388. 

Dyer,  453. 

Edgehill,  battle  of,  for  the  bishops, 

XX. 

Education  in  America,  in  the  princi- 
ples of  government,  xxvii.— xxix.; 
legislation  on  in  the  states,  368,  375; 
important  to  the  pubhc  welfare,  352, 
392,  437. 

Edward  YI.,  334. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  distinguished 
abroad,  114;  Rev.  Samuel  West,  265, 
334,460. 

Edwards,  Timothy,  councillor,  351. 

Election-day,  proceedings  on,  155, 
233,  265,  386,  510. 

Election  Sermons,  the  first,  xxiv.; 
"equivalent  to  political  preaching," 
ix.,  xxiii.;  historical, xiii.,xviii.,  xix; 
Gordon's  account  of,  xxii. — xxvii., 
229,  262.  265. 

Elections,  "  corruptions  in  purchas- 


626 


INDEX 


ing,"  danger  of,  435,  436;  President 
Buchanan-s  letter  on,  436. 

Eliot's  Biographical  Dictionary,  46, 
180,  492. 

Ellery,  453,  454. 

Elliott,  E.  B  ,  on  future  population 
of  the  United  States,  440. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  church  in  time  of, 
xiii.,  xiv.,  334;  congress,  458. 

Ellsworth,  453. 

Endecott,  John,  first  governor  of 
Massachusetts  colomj  under  charter 
of  1628,  xi.,  xii.,  xx.,  xxiii. ;  letter 
from  Cradock,  first  governor  of  the 
"  companie,"  xvi.,  xxiii. ;  portrait  of, 
154. 

England's  political  obligation  to  her 
colonies,  109;  rich  by  colonial  trade, 
111 ;  debt  of,  427 ;  our  obligations  to 
England,  iv.,  334. 

Ericsson,  460. 

Erving,  John,  councillor,  156. 

Esopus,  burnt,  452. 

Evelyn's  Diary,  anniversary  of 
Charles  the  Martyr,  97,  98. 

Everett,  Edward,  inscription  to  mem- 
ory of  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  xxi. 

Essex  Institute,  "Collections"  of, 
112. 

Eutaw  Springs,  victory  of,  444. 

Fairfield,  town  of,  burnt,  452. 

Falmouth,  Maine,  burnt  by  Mowatt, 
see  Willis,  306,  347. 

Faneuil,  101;  Hall,  Barre,  and  Con- 
way, 132;  meetings  at,  153,  191;  Gen. 
Gage's  bad  faith,  249. 

Farley,  Michael,  councillor,  264. 

Fast-Sermons,  Bishop  Lake's,  in  1625, 
xvi.;  liev.  Wni.  Hubbard's,  xviii., 
xix.;  occasions  for,  xxii.,  xxiii.;  ele- 
gant extracts  from,  on  anniversary 
of  Charles  the  Martyr,  41,  42. 

"Federalist,  The,"'  422,  458. 

Felt,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B  ,  Endecott's  laws, 
xx.;  "Massachusetts  currency,"  358. 

Fisher,  Jabez,  councillor,  264,  265,  351, 
388. 

Fitch,  steam  navigation,  460. 

Fitch,  Gov.  Ingersoll's  report  of  Col. 
Barre's  speech,  131. 

Fisheries,  their  importance,  see  Sa- 
bine, 234,  306. 


Florida,  411. 

Floyd,  William,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Foster,  James,  patriot,  Barnstable 
county,  253. 

Foster,  Jed'h,  councillor.  264,  266. 

Fox,  Charles  J.,  on  tyrannicides.  93. 

France,  loses  Louisburg,  108,210;  hos- 
tile to  English  colonies,  iii.,  iv.;  and 
their  protection  against,  120;  loses 
Canada,  145, 183,  iv. ;  forms  an  alliance 
with  the  United  States,  327,  415,  and 
war  with  England,  347;  revolution, 
415;  plan  of  Henry  IV.,  419;  gratitude 
due  to  France,  445;  Protestant  refu- 
gees, 101;  influence  of  American  Rev- 
olution, 465. 

Dr.  Franklin,  his  library,  xxxiv. ; 
before  the  House  of  Commons,  127; 
on  the  stamp  act,  134;  loyalty  of  the 
colonists,  143;  English  reprint  of  re- 
l)ort  of  town  meetings  in  Boston,  192; 
his  rank,  334;  statistician,  399;  friend- 
ship with  Dr.  Stiles.  400;  influence  in 
France,  420,  454;  Dec.  Ind.,  454;  elec- 
tricity, 460;  pop.  of  America,  459. 

French,  Rev.  Jonathan,  Mr.  Quiucy's 
account  of,  xxxv. 

Freeman,  Enoch,  councillor,  266. 

Freeman,  Rev.  Frederic,  History  of 
Cape  Cod,  252—254. 

Freeman,  Dr.  Nathaniel,  patriot  leader 
in  Barnstable  county,  252. 

Frothingham,  Rev.  N.  L.,  "  Thursday 
Lecture,"  188. 

Frothingham.  Richard,  Jr., "  History 
of  Siege  of  Boston,"  xxxi.,  xxxvii., 
223 ;  first  blood  of  the  Revolution,  235 ; 
Gen.  Gage's  bad  faith,  248;  Charles- 
town  burnt,  306;  anecdote  of  Bur- 
goyne,  325. 

Fuller,  Abraham,  councillor,  351. 

Fulton,  Robert,  432,  460. 

Gadsden,  "honorable,"  451;  infam- 
ously treated,  452. 

Gage,  Thomas,  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, "all  the  people  in  his  govern- 
ment are  lawyers,"  xxvii.;  his  letters, 
167 ;  universal  obedience  to  Congress, 
193;  message  to,  194;  is  refused  pro- 
visions, 198;  wishes  for  peace,  200, 
221 ;  seizes  province  powder,  223;  legis- 
lature, 229;    his  bad  faith,  230,  248; 


INDEX 


527 


piety,  255;  too  confident,  325;  weak- 
ness, 454. 

Game  Act,  of  James  I.,  435. 

Gaxgaxelli,  416,  466. 

Gardner,  Henry,  councillor,  266,  351. 

•'  Gaspee,''  the  capture  of,  190. 

Gates,  General,  at  Saratoga,  325;  "  im- 
mortalized," 346;  ''  the  Burgonayde,"' 
444;  a  hero,  450. 

Gee,  Joshua,  on  trade,  430. 

George  I.,  septennial  parliament  and 
the  ropish  faction,  160. 

George  II.,  his  German  troops,  91; 
died  1760,  145, 160. 

George  III.,  sends  Hessian  swords  to 
America,  91,  308 ;  his  policy,  109,  127, 
143;  of  foreign  blood,  and  a  Stuart  in 
principle,  145,  160,  164,  197,  230;  a  bad 
king,  149,  246;  slave-trade,  214;  ''in- 
fluence,"' 244,  385;  "  sacred  majesty," 
316;  in  error,  325;  discarded,  327,460. 

Georgia,  199;  government  of,  420; 
Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Gerrish,  Joseph,  councillor,  156,  264. 

Gerrt,  Elbridge,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  the  love  of  ancestry, 
334. 

Gill,  Moses,  councillor,  264,  265,  351. 

Gloucester,  3Iass.,  the  first  prize-ship, 
see  Babson,  447. 

Glover,  on  trade,  430. 

Godfrey,  Thomas,  Philadelphia,  re- 
flecting quadrant,  460. 

Godwin,  William,  ''death  of  Charles  a 
sort  of  rfeicJf/<',42;  "  not  easy  to  imag- 
ine a  greater  criminal  than  "  Charles 
I.,  93. 

GOFFE,  the  tyrannicide,  finds  refuge  in 
Kew  England,  xx. ;  Dr.  Stiles"s  Life 
of,  xxxiv. 

Goodyear,  Stephen,  deputy  governor 
of  New  Haven  colony,  makes  the  first 
offer  to  "  endow  a  college  "  there,  514. 

GooKiN,  Daniel,  "Historical  Collec- 
tions" of  the  Indians,  407. 

Gordon,  Rev.  William,  death  of  Josiah 
Quincy;  "his  only  surviving  child," 
xxxvii.;  scheme  for  the  hierarchy  in 
America,  110;  stamp  act.  133;  thanks- 
giving sermon,  1774,  188;  tory  criti- 
cisms, 221. 

GowEN,  James,  councillor,  156. 

Gray,  Harrison,  councillor,  156. 


Green,    General,    recovers    southern 

states,  444,  445,  450. 
Green,  John,  first  American  voyage  to 

Canton,  1783,  463. 
Greenleaf,  Benjamin,  councillor,  156, 
i     265,  351. 
Grenville,  George,  xix. ;  stamp  act, 
113.  131 ;  "  Treasurer,"  115, 136 ;  aban- 
i      doued,  141. 

j  Gridley,  "  writs  of  assistance,"  114. 
Griswold,  Matthew,  Gov.,  509. 
GROTirs,  457,  489. 
Gavinnett,  Button,  Dec.  Ind.,  454, 

Haine,  Col.,  tragedy  of,  452. 

"  Half-pay  establishment,"  357. 

Hall,  Stephen,  councillor,  156. 

Hall,  Samuel  and  Ebenezer,  printers, 
308. 

Hall,  Lyman,  453;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Hallam,  Henry,  the  bishops,  xx.; 
'•  Anglican  clergy  —  non-resistance  — 
servility,"  42. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  finance,  427; 
manufactures,  432;  "  Pacificus,"  445. 

Hampden,  John,  John  Hancock, 
xxxiv.;  John  Adams,  75;  principle, 
112, 164,  334. 

Hampton  Falls,  Rev.  Dr.  Langdon, 
232. 

Hancock,  John,  John  Hampden, 
xxxiv.;  negatived  as  councillor,  156; 
rep.  from  Boston,  182;  president  of 
Provincial  Congress,  194,  308;  "The 
Hancock,"  221;  chairman  of  conven- 
tion at  Salem,  229;  first  governor 
under  constitution  of  1780,  262,  358; 
proposed  Continental  Congress,  334, 
453;  President,  454. 

Harrington's  "  Oceana,"  xxxiii.,377, 
404. 

Harris's  "  Lives,"  Cromwell's  letter  to 
Cotton,  XX. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Hart.  John,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Hartford,  polity  of,  first  settlers  of, 
470,  477. 

Harvard  College,  John  Owen,  xv.; 
"Christo  et  Ecclesiae,"  Hollis  sends 
books  to.  xxxii. — xxxiv.;  Mayhew, 
46;  Downing,  107;  Chauncy,  114; 
legislature,  155;  Hutchinson,  180; 
Langdon,  231,  232;    Gage's   designs 


628 


INDEX. 


against,  236;  West,  265;  Payson,  328; 
favored,  352,  392;  Howard,  358,  514. 

Haskell,  Joseph,  patriot,  Barustable 
county,  253. 

Haven,  Samuel  Foster,  v.;  origin  of 
population  of  the  New  World,  408,  see 
Smithsonian  Institute. 

Haavki>s'  missions,  xxxii. 

Haynes,  John,  Gov.,  470. 

Henry,  Patrick,  resolves, Virginia,  134 ; 
the  Baptists,  218,  453. 

Henry  IV.,  of  France,  a  council  of 
nations,  419,  458. 

HENSif  AW,  Joshua,  156. 

Herbert,  Edward,  "the  father  of 
Deism,"'  505. 

Herbert,  George,  prediction,  xiii. 

Hewes,  Joseph,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Heyward,  Thomas,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

HiGGiNSON,  llev.  John,  "  New  England 
a  plantation  religious,  not  of  trade," 
xviii. 

HiLDRETH,  Richard,  History  of  United 
States,  368,  375,  432,  461. 

Hill,  John,  councillor,  156. 

Hillsborough,  Lord,  "  circular,"  122; 
insolence,  151. 

"  Historical  Magazine,"  492. 

Hoadley,  in  Dr.  Franklin's  library, 
xxxiv.;  Dr.  May  hew,  46;  John 
Adams,  75. 

HoLBOURN,  Admiral,  124. 

HoLLis,  Thomas,  the  bishops.  Dr.  May- 
hew,  xxx.;  benefactor  of  Harvard 
College,  xxxii.,  xxxiv.;  portrait  of, 
46;  political,  70;  see  Jenks,  Rev.  Dr. 

Holmes,  Dr.  Abiel,  French  refugees, 
100;  "  Annals,"  221,  383. 

Holt,  Dr.  Mayhew,  75. 

Holton,  Samuel,  councillor,  264,  266, 
388. 

Hooker,  Rev.  Thomas.  470,  476. 

Hooker,  "the  judicious,"  480;  "cler- 
gy," xiii.;  "  Independency,"  xiv. 

Hooper,  William,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Hopkins,  Stephen,  453,  454. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel,  "The  Puri- 
tans," xiii. 

Hopkins,  Edward,  Gov.,  470. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  Newport,  400, 
431 ;  see  Park. 

Hopkins,  Daniel,  councillor,  266,  351. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  Dec.  Ind.,  464. 


Hosmer,  sculpture,  461. 

Hovey,  Rev.  Dr.,  "  Life  and  Times  of 
Backus,"  182. 

Howard,  Rev.  Simeon,  election  ser- 
mon, 355;  notice  of,  358;  scheme  for 
supporting  rehgion,  374. 

Howe,  Gen.,  goes  into  Boston,  325, 456; 
and  then  goes  out  again.  265 ;  "  cooped 
up"  at  Brunswick,  444. 

Hubbard,  Thomas,  councillor,  156. 

Hubbard,  Rev.  Wm.,  History  of  New 
England,  xv.;  see  Conant,  Roger; 
Fast-day  sermon,  1682,  xviii. 

HuDDY,  Capt.,  murdered,  462. 

Hume,  "men  more  honest,"  etc.,  70, 
498. 

Humphrey,  James,  councillor,  156. 

Huntington,  Samuel,  453;  Dec.  Ind., 
454. 

HusKE's  "Present  State  of  North 
America,"  430. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas,  Mas.sachusetts 
polity,  see  Cotton,  John,  xx. ;  "  spec- 
ulative," xxvii. ;  parliament,  107, 122; 
"History,"  175,  177,  179;  Chief  Jus- 
tice, 113,  114,  252;  notice  of,  180; 
mobbed,  132,  138;  his  letters,  192; 
hated,  194;  lieutenant  governor,  153 
—155,  173,  179,  190;  goes  to  England, 
193;  invites  foreign  troops  to  his  own. 
home,  165,  189;  "bad  principles  in 
government,"  167,  177,  179,  189,  190, 
194,  252,  456. 

Hutchinson,  Rev.  John,  490. 

Independence,  Declaration  of,  "  for- 
eign mercenaries,"  91;  merely  declar- 
atory, 108,  109,  114,  313;  slave-trade, 
214,  384;  Canada,  216;  government, 
basis  of,  240,  260;  "the  soul  of  the 
continent,"  453. 

"  Independency,"  democracy,  Crom- 
well, Milton,  Cotton,  Locke,  xiv.; 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  John  Owen, 

XV. 

Indians,  conversion  of,  xv. ;  England'8 
guilt,  xvi.,  xvii.;  the  French,  183; 
savages  employed  by  the  British  min- 
istry against  the  colonies,  452;  Chat- 
ham's rebuke,  326;  Indian  territory, 
405;  Gookin's  Historical  Collections, 
407;  over-estimate  and  decrease  of, 
411,  412. 


INDEX. 


529 


Ingersoll,  Jared,  "  Sons  of  Liberty," 

131, 132. 
Inglis,  Rev.  Charles,  "  all "  church  of 

England    "missionaries"    hostile    to 

the  Revolution,  xxxi. 
Ireland,  "massacre,"  90;  church  of, 

483,  390,  454,  455,  465;  ancient  Ireland, 

437. 
Ireton's  grave  violated,  97. 
Irving,  Washington,  History,  326,  461. 

Jackson,  Dr.  Charles  T.,  461. 

James  I.,  a  tyrant,  not  a  king,  74; 
America  not  ivithin  the  realm,  107; 
game  act,  "  nobility,"  435. 

James  II.,  the  revolution,  63;  "  divine 
right,"  72;  his  portrait  in  the  council 
chamber  of  3Iassachusetts,  113,  154; 
proclaimed  in  Boston,  176;  his  atro- 
cities, 177. 

Jarvis,  Dr.  Edward,  population  of 
United  States,  459 ;  International  Sta- 
tistical Congress,  461. 

Jay,  John,  civilian,  454,  461. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Dr.  Mayhew,  91; 
slave  trade,  214;  studies  liberty  and 
equality  in  the  Baptist  church,  218; 
Declaration  of  Independence,  453, 
454. 

Jeffries,  the  infamous,  177. 

Jenks,  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.,  100;  see  Hollis. 

"  Jersey,"  prison  ship,  451. 

Jesuits,  "  locusts  that  come  out  of  the 
bottomless  pit,"  xvi. ;  America,  xvii. ; 
suppressed  "  to  all  eternity  "  and  re- 
stored, both  by  infallible  popes,  467 ; 
their  colleges,  etc.,  467,  471. 

Jeavell,  Bishop,  481. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  King's  Col- 
lege, 100. 

Jones,  captain  in  the  American  navy, 
"  merits  the  highest  honors,"  447. 

Joseph  II.,  of  Austria,  frightens  the 
pope  by  Christian  liberty,  464 — 466. 

Judiciary,  purity  of,  424. 

"Junius,"  on  American  affairs,  113. 

Kapp,  Friederich,  Life  of  Steuben,  449. 
Kent,  James,  tribute  to  Dr.  Stiles,  399, 

461. 
KiLBY    Street,  Boston,  stamp  riot, 

132. 
Kino,  Sir  Peter,  489. 


KiNGSLEY,  James  L.,  Stiles,  470 ;  Peters, 

474. 
Kirk,  Col.,  the  brutal  agent  of  James 

II  ,  expected  in  New  England,  177. 
Knight-s  England,  90, 149, 151. 
Knox,  Grenville,  anecdote,  113. 

LaFayette,  449,  450,  465. 

La  Hontan,  411. 

Lake,  Arthur,  bishop,  missionary  ser- 
mon, Massachusetts,  White,  xvi.— 
xvii. 

Langdon,  Rev.  Dr.,  election  sermon, 
1775,  228,  231;  ministerial  convention, 
231;  president  of  Harvard  College, 
232;  Gov.  Gage's  piety,  255. 

Laud,  William,  bishop,  etc.,  New  Eng- 
land, x. ;  his  cruelty,  a  representative 
man,  xi. — xiii.,  101;  threatens  to  crop 
"  King  Winthrop's  ears,"  but  did  not, 
xii. ;  library,  xvi. ;  his  successor,  xxii. ; 
book  of  sports,  90. 

Laurens,  of  the  army,  451 ;  tortured 
by  the  British,  452,  454. 

Lauzun,  440,  465. 

Law,  453. 

Law,  progress  of  the,  321,  424. 

Laws,  good,  based  on  Christian  mor- 
ality, xxiii.,  xxix. 

Lee,  Arthur,  of  Virginia,  "  an  Ameri- 
can episcopate,"  110,  453. 

Lee,  Francis  Lightfoot,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Lee,  Rev.  Samuel,  480. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  454. 

Lee,  William,  of  Virginia,  "  armed  neu- 
trality," 457. 

Legare,  101. 

Leighton,  Alexander,  mutilated  by 
Bishop  Laud,  xi. 

Leonard,  George,  councillor,  156. 

Leslie,  on  government,  72. 

Lewis,  Francis,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Lexington,  Mass.,  229,  230,  235—237, 
306,  441. 

"  Liberty-tree,"  Boston,  138. 

Libraries  in  America,  xxxiii.,  xxxiv., 
438. 

Lincoln,  Bishop  of,  tribute  to  Rev. 
John  Cotton,  xxii. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  Gen.,  anecdote  of, 
112;  councillor,  156,  264,265;  ^Jerk  of 
convention  at  Salem,  229;  "  a  Wash- 
ington and  a  Lincoln,"  445,  460. 


45 


530 


INDEX 


Lincoln,  William,  History  of  Worces- 
ter, 194. 

Literature,  Science,  and  Art,  prog- 
ress of,  in  the  United  States,  460. 

LiTTLETO>-,  Lord,  on  the  Quebec  bill, 
217,  257. 

Livingston,  Philip,  453;  Dec.  Ind., 
454. 

Locke,  John,  "Independents,"  xv. ; 
in  New  England,  xxx. ;  Harvard  Col- 
lege, xxxiii. ;  Dr.  Franklin,  xxiv. ; 
Dr.  May  hew,  46;  Milton,  74;  Massa- 
chusetts, 190, 191,  270. 

London,  Bishop  of,  honor  to  Kev.  John 
Cotton,  not  to  Laud,  xxii. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  461, 

Long  Island,  480. 

''Lord's  Anointed,  The,"  63, 101. 

Lords,  House  of,  protest,  201. 

"Lords,  spiritual  and  temporal,"  not 
wanted  in  America,  xxx. 

LossiNG,  Benson  J.,  Field-Book  of  the 
Ke volution,  306,  326,  346,  449,  452. 

Louis  XYL,  415,  487. 

XouiSBURG,  crusade  against,  108,  145, 
210,  231. 

LovELL,  of  the  army,  451. 

Lowell,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles,  46,  358,  383. 

Lowell,  John,  "  all  men  are  born  free 
and  equal,"  383. 

Loyalty  of  America,  96, 104, 123, 130, 
131, 135, 143, 174,  223,  247,  265,  433,  434, 
451,  455. 

Ludlow,  Harvard  College,  xxxii.,  470. 

Lunenburg,  Mass.,  minute  men  and  a 
sermon,  xxxvi. 

Lunt,  Eev.  W.  P.,  "Massachusetts," 
225. 

Lynch,  Thomas,  of  South  Carolina,  let- 
ter to  Gen.  Gage,  199,453,454;  Dec. 
Ind.,  454. 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  145,  461. 

Macaulay,  Mrs.  Catharine,  "the  fe- 
male Livy  of  the  age,"  popular  in 
America,  Washington,  417. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  "Independ- 
ents," xiv.,  XV. ;  Jacobites,  160. 

Madoc,  America,  410. 

Madison,  James,  "  Federalist,"  422. 

Maine,  101, 156,  266,  306.  351,  388,  410. 

MananAs,  Maine,  inscription  at,  410. 

Manly,  Capt.  John,  447. 


Mann,  Horace,  461. 

Mansfield,  Lord  Murray,  mobbed, 
139;  detested  in  America,  455,  456. 

Mansfield,  liev.  Isaac,  chaplain, 
"camp  at  Eoxbury,"  236;  story  of 
Gen.  Gage's  foray  at  Lexington,  236; 
Harvard  College,  236;  providential, 
256. 

Manufactures,  Washington  visits 
cotton  factory  at  Beverley,  336;  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  432. 

Marblehead,  donation  to  Boston, 
198;  fishermen  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  306;  Capt.  Manly  takes  first 
British  flag,  447. 

Marbois,  France,  445. 

Marchant,  453. 

Marsh,  George  P.,  the  unity  of  Amer- 
ica and  England,  434;  language,  462. 

Marshall,  J.,  United  States,  finance, 
358;  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  461. 

Marshall's  "Travels,"  439. 

Martha's  Vineyard,  Eev.  Dr.  May- 
hew,  46. 

Marvell,  Andrew,  Harvard  College, 
xxxiv. 

Maryland,  relieves  Boston,  but  not 
Gen.  Gage,  198;  population  in  1775, 
211;  Dec.  Ind.,  454;  public  education, 
368;  support  of  religion,  374;  consti- 
tution of,  420,  457,  467. 

Massachusetts,  name  of,  224;  colo- 
nized by  "  the  Dorchester  Company," 
xi. ;  Roger  Conant,  the  first  governor, 
suggests  to  Mr.  White  it  may  be  a  ref- 
uge "on  account  of  religion,"  xv,; 
Bishop  Lake's  sermon,  xv.— xvii. ;  the 
company  reorganized,  and  John  En- 
decott  supersedes  Conant,  as  second 
governor  of  the  colony,  xi. ;  company 
incorporated  by  Charles  I.,  1629.  and 
two  governments  instituted,  one  for 
the  "company,"  of  which  Matthew 
Cradock  was  named  first  governor 
by  the  patent,  and  one  for  the  colony, 
in  which  John  Endecott  was  "con- 
tinued" governor,  xi.,  xxiii.;  Cra- 
dock's  house  at  Medford,  xi.;  John 
Winthrop  chosen  second  governor  of 
the  "company,"  and,  on  removal  to 
Massachusetts,  supersedes  Gov.  Ende- 
cott, becoming  de  facto  third  gover- 


INDEX 


531 


nor  of  the  colony,  xxiii.,  xxiv.,  xii.;  i  Moody,  Rev.  Samuel,  chaplain  at  Lotiis- 
colony  denounced  by  Laud,  xii. ;  pol-       burg,  108. 

icy  of,  xii. — xix. ;  laws  of,  xix.,  xx.;  '  MouGAJf,  "and  other  heroes,"'  450. 
its  missionary  origin,  X.,  xii.,  XV. ,xvi.,    Morris,  Robert,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 
207;  '•  provincial  charter,'"  xxii. ;  plots    Morris,  Gouverneur,  Hamilton,  427. 
to  annul  the  charter,  110, 178, 190, 206,    Morris,  Lewis,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 
222;  election-day,  155;  governors,  xi.    Morse,  S.  F.  B.,  461. 
—xxiii.,  178,  179,  193.  221.  262;    the    Mortox,  461. 


Morton,  Bishop  of  Chester,  480. 
MORTOX,  John,  Dec.  Ind.,  4&4. 


council,  107, 110. 113, 117, 151—15.5, 173. 

176—180, 190,  201.  222.  234. 241,  261, 351, 

385,  387;  poverty  of,  123,  124;  French  Morto>',  Perez,  councillor,  264. 

war,  125;    death  to  Roman  Catholic  Motley,  historian,  461. 

priests,  375;  congress,  193,  194,  229—  Muirsox,  Dr.,  460. 

231,  251,  254,  231,  308;  army,  230,  231,  ; 

261,  308;  state  arms,  262;  constitution,  Xarragaxset   Bay,  Dighton  Rock, 

265,  328.  331,  368,  376,  379,  421;  Dec.  410. 

Ind.,  454.  Xash,  453. 

Mather,  Cotton,  on  population  of  New  "  'Sxxig atios  Acts,"  107, 112, 122. 

England,  459.  Xelsox,  Thomas,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Mather,  Increase,  object  of  the  first  Xero,  to  be  resisted,  57,  61. 

planters,  x\iii. ;  procured  the  provin-  Xewbury,  Mass.,  Noyes,  477. 


cial  charter  of  Massachusetts,  xxii. ; 

ordination,  479,  480. 
Mather,  Rev.  Richard,  480. 
Maverick,  Samuel,  commissioner,etc., 

175. 
Mayhew,  Jonathan, D.D.,noticeof, 45,  j 

46;  life  and  opinions,  41 — 46;  prelacy  ! 


New  Exglant),  colonists  of,  x.,  xiv. ; 
and  Canada,  108 ;  public  spirit  of,  125, 
234;  trade,  127;  "  sons  of  liberty,"  132j 
"English  subjects,"  174,  176;  man- 
hood, 175;  at  Louisburg,  210,  247; 
from  England,  .333,  334;  descendants 
in  the  United  States,  440. 


in  New  England,  xxx. ;   sermon  on    New  Havex,  Yale  College,  Stiles,  400, 
Charles  the  Martyr,  40—104,  173;  see       476,  514, 

New  Hampshire,  public  spirit  of,  125; 
population  of,  211;  Dr.  Langdon,232; 
education,  368;  Congregationalism, 
375,  454. 
New  Jersey,  religion,  375;  govern- 
ment, 420;  Dec.  Ind.,  454.  480,  514. 
Newport,  R.I.,  naval  enterprise,  306; 
Berkeley,  Hopkins,  Stiles,  400;  trade, 
429;  "  iniquitous  African  trade,"  431. 


"  Society  for  propagating  the  gospel 

in  foreign    parts";    stamp  act,  1.34; 

"  committees  of  correspondence,"  44, 

45,199;  his  pulpit,  488. 
McKeax,  President,  governor,  453. 
Medford,  Cradock's  house,  xi. 
Mercer,  '-martyr  general,"  451. 
Middletox.  Arthur,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 
MiDDLETOX,  Dr.,  497. 
Militia,  xxxvi.,  194,  .308,  435. 


NEWTO^^  Rev.  Thos.  Hooker,  477. 


Miltox,  John,  "  Independency,"  xiv. ;    Xewtox,  Sir  Isaac,  489. 
Harvard  College,  xxxiii. ;  Dr.  Frank-    New  York,  public  spirit  of,  125 ;  Barr6, 


lin, 


xxxiv.;    tyrannicide,  62,  74,  83;  I 
Chri.<:tian  government,  67, 334. 409, 457.  ! 
MiLTOx,  3Iass.,  Hutchinson,  155.  j 

3IixuTE-3rEX.  xxxvi..  194. 
Missionary  IxsTiTUTioxsin  America, 
"480.  I 

Mississippi  River,  411 ;  future  politi- 
cal centre  of  the  United  States.  440.      i 
"Molasses  Act."  anecdote,  112. 
MoxTEsqriEU,  Dr.  Franklin,  xxxiv. 


"Boston  Port  Bill,"  218;  death  to 
Roman  Catholic  priests,  375:  govern- 
ment, 420;  Washington,  Clinton,  444; 
"  Jersey,"  451 ;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Niagara,  British  flag,  145,  411. 

Nichols,  commissioner,  "  Christian  re- 
ligion "  in  New  England.  175. 

Niles,  Samuel,  councillor,  351,388. 

Norfolk,  Ya.,  burnt,  452. 
MoxTGOMERY,  "martyr  general,"  451.     North   Carolina,  population  of,  in 


532 


INDEX 


1775,  211;  education,  368;  General 
Greene,  445;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

North,  Lord,  189,  236;  George  III., 
325,  327, 

Norton,  the  Eev.  John,  election  ser- 
mon, 1661,  xviii.;  colonial  agent  in 
England,  xxii.;  artillery  sermon, 
xxiii.,  480. 

Nova  Scotia,  bishopric,  xxxi.,  199. 

NoYES,  Rev.  James,  of  Newbury,  477, 
480, 

Obedience,  passive,  church  of  Eng- 
land, 41^14,  53. 

O'DoNNELL,  John,  Baltimore,  second 
American  voyage  to  Canton,  464. 

Ohio,  411. 

Oliver,  Andrew,  stamp  riot,  132 ;  pro- 
vincial secretary,  154,  163;  welcomes 
foreign  troops  to  New  England,  163; 
the  council  "too  dependent  on  their 
constituents,"  179. 

Orange,  Prince  of,  "glorious  revolu- 
tion," 177. 

Otis,  James,  Chief  Justice,  Barnstable, 
court  suppressed,  252 ;  councillor,  156 ; 
"com.  of  correspondence,"  191, 

Otis,  James,  Hollis,  xxxii. ;  "  com.  of 
correspondence,"  May  hew,  44;  "tax- 
ation without  representation,"  112; 
writs  of  assistance,  113, 153 ;  repeal  of 
stamp  act,  120,  121;  war  service  of 
Massachusetts,  125;  slave-trade,  182; 
councillor,  264,  266;  Stiles,  453. 

Owen,  Eev.  John,  Harvard  College, 
XV.,  517. 

Oxford  University,  xxxi.,  xli.,  199, 
204,  239,  265,  304. 

Oxford,  Mass.,  Huguenots,  101. 

Paca,  William,  453;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Palmer,  Joseph,  councillor,  264,  266. 

Paine,  Thomas,  "  the  crisis,"  385. 

Paine,  Robert  Treat,  "  Dr.  Mayhew, 
the  father  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
in  Massachusetts  and  America."  43; 
delegate  to  Continental  Congress,  251. 
councillor,  388;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Park,  Rev.  Dr.,  Memoir  of  Hopkins, 
431. 

Parker,  John  Lawson,  Life  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  x. 

Parliament  and  the  colonies,  the  pul- 


pit, xxvi.— xxviii.,  107—120, 122, 127; 
colonies  without  the  realm,  107—122; 
Canada,  108,  129;  Dr.  Chauncy's  ser- 
mon, stamp  act,  107 — 156;  Lord  North, 
189—193,  198—201;  too  late,  238;  "the 
tyranny  of  a  set  of  men,"  280;  "by 
fire  and  sword,"  306;  "tyrannical 
monsters,"  307;  "  a  whole  community 
not  rebels,"  313;  "robbed  us  of  the 
election  "  of  oflQcers,  385,  454. 

Parson,  Dr.  Usher,  Pepperell,  108, 
210. 

Parsons,  Theophilus,  461. 

Payson,  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  election 
sermon,  323;  notice  of.  328;  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  352. 

Pendleton,  Edmund,  of  Virginia,  let- 
ter to  Gen.  Gage,  at  Boston,  199; 
Stiles,  453. 

Penn,  Elder,  476. 

Penn,  John,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Pennsylvania,  war  expenses,  125; 
Wilkesbarre,  132;  population  of  in 
1775,  211,  224;  education,  368;  equal- 
ity, 375 ;  Moravians,  409 ;  polity,  420 ; 
Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Pensions,  British,  204,  246. 

Pepperell,  Louisburg,  108,  210. 

Pequot  Expedition,  thanksgiving, 
xxiii, 

Peter,  Rev.  Hugh,  origin  of  Massachu- 
setts colony,  Conant,  White,  Bishop 
Lake,  xvi. ;  to  England,  xx. 

Peters,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  A.,  "indelible 
character,"  100;  his  pretty  letter,  195 ; 
the  "  originality  "  of  his  "  History," 
"  the  sinful  omission  of  not  sending 
a  bishop,"  "  unscrupulous  and  mali- 
cious," 473,  474. 

Percy,  Lord,  April  19th,  236. 

Philadelphia,  113;  stamp  act,  120; 
tea,  192;  Congress,  194,  199,  261; 
"American  Association,"  214;  free- 
dom, 216;  Duche,  219;  Washington, 
443;  college,  514. 
'  Phillips,  Payson,  324,  328. 
'  Pickering,  Dr.  Charles,  origin  of 
American  aborignes,  409. 

Pitcher,  John,  Barnsstable  patriot,  253. 

Pitt,  William,  providential,  70;  the 
American  controversy  "a  great  com- 
mon cause,"  109.  130;  "rejoices"  at 
the  resistance,  133, 135, 163 ;  eulogized, 


INDEX 


633 


138, 144;   his  administration,  144, 145. 
See  Chatham. 

Pitts,  James,  councillor,  156,  351,  388. 

Plato,  Dr.  Mayhew,  46. 

Plymouth,  polity  of  adopted  in  Massa- 
chusetts, xiv. ;  councillors,  156,  252, 
263,  33i,  338. 

PoLASKi,  "  martyr  general,"  451. 

Pope,  Alexander,  "  for  forms  of  gov- 
ernment," etc.,  161;  "the  enormous 
faith,"  etc.,  364,  504. 

Popery,  in  England,  xv.,  89, 100, 101; 
see  Jesuits,  89;  butchery,  90,  166; 
"  modern  Rome,"  154, 160,  257;  "  sub- 
versive of  society,"  191;  Canada,  iv., 
193,  216,  237,  471 ;  its  policy,  466,  467, 
471 ;  see  Jesuits,  375,  487,  497. 

Population,  colonial,  210, 517;  in  1775, 
211 ;  of  United  States,  427, 440, 459, 472. 

Portland,  burnt,  306.    See  Willis. 

Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Langdon,  231; 
Stiles,  400;  enterprise,  442. 

Powell,  Jere.,  councillor,  266, 351, 888. 

PowNALL,  Thomas,  governor,  "  no  ad- 
mirer of  Charleses  or  Jr.meses,"  114; 
poverty  of  3Iassachusetts,  124;  moves 
for  repeal  of  duty  on  tea,  189. 

Pratt,  Ch.  of  New  York,  notice  of,  113. 

Prebble,  Jedediah,  councillor,  351. 

Prescott,  James,  councillor,  264. 

Prescott,  Oliver,  councillor,  351. 

Prescott,  W.  H.,  historian,  461. 

Price,  Dr.,  Dr.  Franklin,  xxxiv. 

Priestly,  Dr.,  Dr.  Franklin,  xxxiv.; 
mobbed,  139. 

Prince,  Rev.  Thomas,  Louisburg,  1745 
210;  Christian  History,  479. 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  Washington,  444. 

Prison  Ships,  the,  445,  451. 

Providence.    See  Divine  Providence. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  "  the  Gaspee,"  190.  '  Ross,  George,  Dec.  lud.,  454. 

Prynne,  brutality  of  Bishop  Laud,  xi.  j  Roxbury,  "in  the  camp  at,  Kov 

Pulpit,  the,  St.  Paul's  Cross,  x.,  xii. ;  j     1775,"  236;  providential,  253. 
special    occasions,    xxii. — xxiv. ;    in    Royall,  Isaac,  councillor,  156. 
Kew  England,  xxv. — xxvii. ;  its  in-    Runnemede,  334. 
fluence,  xxxviii.,  43,  89,  197,  267—270,  |  Rush,  Benjamin,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 


Quebec,  Seeker  and  papacy,  xxx.,  257 ; 
capture,  145;  ministerial  design,  216, 
257,  258;  "  Debates"  on,  217. 

QuiNCY,  Josiah,  "  numbered  with  the 
patriotic  heroes,"  ''  his  only  surviving 
son  "  still  lives,  xxxv. ;  "  executive 
courts,"  192;  "the  true  spirit  of  lib- 
erty," 194. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  334. 

"  Raleigh,"  the  frigate,  442. 

Ramsay's  History,  358. 

Randolph,  Ed.,  enemy  to  New  Eng- 
land, 175. 

Randolph,  President  of  Congress,  453. 

Read,  George,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

"  Rebellion,"  defined  by  Dr.  Mayhew, 
63;  John  Adams,  75;  Dr.  FrankJin, 
134;  George  III.,  199,  249,  262;  state 
of,  308. 

Reformation,  the,  and  the  Puritans, 
one  in  principle,  xiv. ;  the  English 
Bible,  462. 

Revolution  of  1640,  1688,  1776,  unity 
of,  XX.,  xxvii.— xxxiv.,  63,  96;  Amer- 
ican, ix.,  XX.,  109. 

Rhode  Island,  naval  enterprise  iu 
Revolution,  125;  population  of,  in 
1775,  211;  seamen,  Arnold's  History, 
306;  Berkeley,  Stiles,  Hopkins,  400; 
polity,  421;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Riots,  stamp  act,  1-38, 139;  no  riots,  251. 

Roberts,  David,  Salem  custom-house, 
Avrits  of  assistance,  112. 

Robinson.  Rev.  John,  Pilgrims,  485. 

Rochambeau,  Clinton,  444,  445;  "cel^ 
ebrated,"  450,  465. 

Rockingham  Administration,  141, 
149. 

Rodney,  Caesar,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 


308;  see  Election  Sermons;  its  prov- 
ince and  duty,  iii.,  487,  488. 

Puritans,  x.— xix.,  xxvii.,  xxxi. 

Putnam,  Gen.,  a  "  hero,"  450. 

Quakers,  excused  from  military  ser- 
vice, 312. 

45 


Rushworth,  princes  "  account  of  their 

actions  to  God  alone,"  95. 
Russell,  James,  councillor,  156. 
Russell,  Lord  William,  the  patriot, 

"no  rebel,"  75,  262. 
Rutledge,  John,  South  Carolina,  453. 
Rutledge,  John,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 


534 


INDEX 


Sabine,  Lorenzo,  "Report  on  Ameri- 
can Fisheries,"  234,  306,  447. 

Sacheverell,  riots,  84. 

SacketT'S  Hakbob,  "the  Madison," 
442. 

Sagadahock,  Maine,  councillors  for, 
156,  266,  351.  388. 

Salaries,  "fixed,"  refused,  164,  172; 
from  the  crown,  178, 192. 

Sale,  502. 

Salem,  Conant,  Eudecott,  xi. ;  custom- 
house, 112;  generous,  198;  general 
court,  229,251;  Hall,  printers,  308 

Sakcroft,  "our  church"  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 177. 

Sanders,  Thomas,  councillor,  156. 

Sandwich,  Mass.,  courts  suppressed, 
1774;  see  Freeman,  252. 

Saratoga,  Burgoyne's  surrender,  325 ; 
gladness,  327 ;  providential,  444. 

Savage,  James,  population  of  United 
States,  459;  edits  Winthrop,  492. 

Sayer,  Col.,  congress,  Watertown,231. 

Scotland,  455. 

Seamen  of  the  Revolution,  306. 

Sears,  Judah,  Cape  Cod  patriot,  253. 

Secker,  Archbishop,  popish  bishop  at 
Quebec,  xxx. ;  leaves  £1000  for  the 
first  bishop  settled  in  America,  42. 
See  Society  for  Propagation  of  Gos- 
pel in  Foreign  Parts. 

Selden,  John,  "  law  for  resisting  ty- 
ranny," 94, 407 ;  "  mare  clausum,"  457, 
489. 

Senegas,  the,  411. 

Sever,  William,  councillor,  156,  351. 

Sewall,  David,  councillor,  266. 

Sewall,  Rev.  Samuel,  477. 

Sewell,  Prof.,  Dighton  inscription, 
410. 

Shaftesbury,  498. 

Shakespeare,  334. 

Sherman,  Roger,  453;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Shrewsbury,  Ross  Wyman,  president 
Blacksmiths'  convention,  194. 

Sidney,  Algernon,  "  on  government," 
xxx.;  Harvard  College,  xxxiii.;  Dr. 
Franklin,  xxxiv. ;  Dr.  May  hew,  46; 
John  Adams,  75;  shield  of  Massachu- 
setts, 262,  334.  379. 

SiGOURNEY,  101. 

Silliman's  Journal,  Eli  Whitney's 
cotton-gin,  412. 


Simpson,  Joseph,  councillor,  351,  388. 

"  Six  Kations,"  confederacy  of,  411. 

Slavery,  John  Lowell,  "  all  men," 
etc.,  383;  Dec.  Ind.,  etc.,  384;  cotton- 
gin,  412. 

Slave  Trade,  Massachusetts,  182,  383; 
George  III.,  183,  214;  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son,  214;    Edmund   Burke,  214,  215. 

Smibert,  the  artist.  Dr.  May  hew,  46; 
Berkeley,  Yale  College,  408,  409;  In- 
dians, 409. 

Smith,  Isaac,  on  committee  for  poor  of 
Boston,  1774, 199. 

Smith,  James,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Smithsonian  Institute's  Contribu- 
tors, Samuel  F.  Haven,  408;  Cooper, 
440. 

"  Society  for  Propagation  of  Gos- 
pel IN  Foreign  Parts,"  its  "  gos- 
pel," xxxi.,  230,  326;  its  "missiona- 
ries," 71;  labors  in  New  England,  72, 
103, 160, 197;  its  real  design  avowed, 
109 ;  ichen  "this  society  will  be  brought 
to  the  happy  issue  intended,"  110, 199, 
304;  Dr.  Mayhew,  160,  237;  "uiission- 
aries,"  197—216,  237. 

SoMERS,  John  Adams,  75. 

"Sons  of  Liberty,"  triumph,  112; 
Barre,  131 ;  household  words,  132, 152 ; 
awake,  193. 

South  Carolina,  "resolutions"  of 
common  cause  with  Boston,  "i99;  pop- 
ulation of,  in  1775,  211,  215;  "train- 
ing," 220;  trade,  428;  Gen,  Greene, 
445;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Sparhawk,  Nathaniel,  councillor,  156. 

Sparks,  Jared,  Stiles,  400;  Franklin, 
440,  461. 

Spooner,  William,  councillor,  156,  264, 
266.  351,  388. 

Sprague's  "Annals,"  xxxiv.,  232, 
400. 

Squantum,  225.    See  Lunt,  Rev.  W.  P. 

Stamp    Act,    its    history,    107—118; 
"no  stamps,"  133;  its  effect,  134;  re- 
peal of,  44,  120,  131,  141,  142, 166,  189; 
Dr.  Chauncy's  sermon,  105;  see  Con- 
way;   see  engraving  on  title  page; 
also  p.  v. 
Star  Chamber,  Laud,  xi. 
St.  Asaph,  Bishop  of,  friend  to  Amer- 
ica. 132. 
St.  Botolph,  Boston,  xxii. 


INDEX. 


535 


St.  Lawkence,  the  French,  111. 

St.  Patrick,  483,  484. 

St.  Pauls  Cross,  London,  New  Eng- 
land denounced  from,  xii. 

Sterling,  Lord,  217. 

Steve>s,  Charles  Emery,  v. 

Steuben,  Baron,  449. 

Stiles,  President,  notice  of,  399,400; 
election  sermon,  397;  New  England 
settled  for  religion,  xix. ;  the  tyran- ' 
nicides,  93;  the  colleges  and  the  Kev-  \ 
olution,  xxxiv. ;  to  establish  the  hier- 
archy in  America,  110;  chronological, 
409 — 411;  Indians  and  Africans  "  de- 
creasing rapidly,"  412;  Mrs.  Macau- j 
lay,  417;  Edmund  Burke,  430;  slave- 
trade,  431 ;  •"  confederacy  "  and  union 
predicted,  432;   future  population  of 
the  United  States.  440,  460,  461 ;  Bute 
and  Murray,  455;  his  pulpit,  488;  ad- 
dress to  Gov.  Trumbull  and  the  legis- 
lature, 505—518. 

Stocktox.  Richard,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Stone,  Josiah,  councillor,  351.  388. 

Stone,  Kev.  E.  M.,  History  of  Beverley, 
338. 

Stoke,  Thomas,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Story,  Jos.,  Massachusetts  charter, 
xxiv.,  461. 

Story,  William,  stamp-act  riot,  132. 

Stoughton's  Election  Serxon,  1668, 
xiii. 

Strong,  Caleb,  councillor,  388. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  461. 

Stuart,  I.  W.,  Life  of  Gov.  Trumbull, 
509. 

Stuarts,  the,  "divine  right,"  xi.,  84. 

Sully,  419;  scheme  for  confederacy  of 
nations,  419. 

Sumner,  George,  425,  453. 

Swift,  Dean,  •'  church  and  state,"  145. 

Tarquin,  right  of  revolution,  62. 

Taylor,  Dr.  E.,  congress  at  Water- 
town,  231;  councillor,  264,  265. 

Taylor,  George,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Tea  Tax,  189. 

Temple,  Sir  William,  501. 

Tennison,  Archbishop,  £1000  for  first 
bishop  in  America,  42. 

Thacher,  Oxenbridge,  writs  of  assist- 
ance, 114. 

"THAifKSQivijfO,"   xxii. ;     proclama- 


tion, stamp  act,  117;  Dr.  Chauncy, 
106;  Mansfield,  Eoxbury  "camp," 
236,256;  Dr.  Langdon,  260;  Novem- 
ber 15,  1783,  327. 

Thayer,  Eben,  Jr.,  councillor,  265. 

Thomas,  Gen.,  army  at  Roxbury,  236, 
451. 

Thomas,  Isaiah,  308. 

Thompson,  Pishey,  History  of  Boston, 
Eng.,  xxii. 

Thornton,  Matthew,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Thuanus,  Stiles,  489 

TiCONDEROGA,  145. 

Tories,  the,  248.  309;  slander  Dr.  May- 
hew,  44;  "observations,"  221,  248; 
"a  miserable  set,"  Washington,  309; 
"the  faithful,"  Dr.  Peters,  195;  cru- 
elty, 452. 

TowNSEN-D,  Charles,  Barre,  131. 

Town  Governments  in  New  England, 
description  of,  202,  331. 

Tracy's  "  Great  Awakening,"  479. 

Treason,  first  ( ?)  overt  act  of,  252. 

Trenton,  Washington,  443. 

Tryon,  Gen.,  an  "incendiary,"  452. 

Trumbull,  Gov.  Jonathan,  Dr.  Stiles's 
address  to,  506 ;  Washington's  tribute, 
509. 

Trumbull,  Dr.,  Connecticut  war  ex- 
penditures, 125. 

Trumbull,  John,  461. 

Tyler,  Royal,  councillor,  156. 

Tyndall,  489. 

Tyrants  and  Tyranntccides,  asy- 
lum in  New  England,  xx. ;  Dr.  Stiles, 
xxxiv.,  93.  316,  399;  "  the  glory  of  a 
Protestant  state,"  Milton,  62,  74,  93; 
Dr.  May  hew,  63, 74, 91—97 ;  C.  J.  Fox, 
Wm.  Godwin,  Thos.  Carlyle,  93. 

Uniformity,  act  of,  1662,  xxii.,  480. 

United  States,  form  of  government 
"  most  perfect,"  422 ;  exploring  expe- 
dition, Pickering,  409;  early  navy, 
442,  443,  447,  458;  progress  of,  438, 
441. 

Vandyke,  114,  435. 

Varney,  Sir  Edward,  "  fight  for  the 

bishops"  at  Edgeliill,  xx. 
Vassall,  Massachusetts,  xii. 
Vergennes,  445. 
Vermont,  Barre,  132. 


536 


INDEX 


VlOMENIL,  450. 

Virginia,  without  the  realm,  108;  op- 
poses episcopacy,  110;  Patrick  Henry, 
134,192;  aid  to  Boston,  198;  Pendle- 
ton, 199;  population  of,  in  1775,  211; 
refuses  slave  trade,  215 ;  Boston  Port 
Bill,  218;  training,  220;  constitution, 
421;  trade,  428;  CornwaUis,  444,  445; 
Dec.  Ind.,  454,  467. 

VOLTAIKE,  498. 

Walpole,  Robert,  "  every  man  has  his 
price,"  338. 

Walpole,  Mass.,  Payson,  328. 

Walton,  Izaak,  "  Independency,"  xiv. 

Walton,  George,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Ward,  Artemas,  councillor,  156,  265, 
351. 

Ward,  Eev.  Nath'l,  to  England,  xx.; 
election  sermon,  1641,  xxiv. 

Warren,  James,  "  committe  of  corres- 
pondence," 191.     See  May  hew. 

Warren,  Joseph,  "the  true  spirit  of 
liberty,"  196;  see  Quincy;  president 
of  provincial  congress,  231;  "martyr 
general,"  451. 

Washington,  virtue  of,  70;  "  molasses 
act,"  112;  "the  invisible  hand  which 
conducts  the  affairs  of  man,"  140,  v. ; 
Duche,  219;  at  Cambridge,  262;  the 
tories,  309 ;  Saratoga,  327 ;  "the  baneful 
effects  of  the  spirit  of  party,"  333, 334; 
at  Beverley,  336;  "general  diffusion 
of  knowledge,"  339;  "religion  and 
morality,"  340;  plea  for  the  army, 
357;  "good  faith,"  377;  Mrs.  Macau- 
lay,  418;  ordained  of  God,  iv.,  427, 
442;  president,  432;  Arnold,  444;  na- 
val, 447;  Dr.  Stiles's  apostrophe,  448; 
Gov.  Trumbull,  vi.,  509;  address  to 
the  army,  453,465;  "benign  light  of 
revelation,"  467,  491. 

Waterland,  Dr.,  theology,  100. 

Waterston,  Rev.  R.  C,  "Boston 
Thursday  Lecture,"  188. 

Watertown,  Provincial  Congress,  229, 
231. 

Watt,  James,  of  England,  432. 

Webster,  Daniel,  "  the  Revolution  ac- 
complished on  a  strict   question  of} 
principle,"  xxviii.;    see    Education; 
Hamilton,  427. 

Webster,  Noah,  lexicographer,  460. 


I  Welde,  Rev.  Thomas,  to  England,  xx. ; 
a  mistake,  492. 

Wells,  anaesthetics,  461. 

i  Wendell,  Oliver,  councillor,  351. 

J  West,  Benjamin,  461. 

West,  Rev.  Samuel,  notice  of,  265;  elec- 
tion sermon,  260,298;  support  of  re- 
ligion, 299. 

Westborough,  Eli  Whitney,  412. 

West  Church,  Boston,  May  hew,  Low- 
ell, 46;  Howard,  358. 

West  India  Trade,  127,  428. 

West  Point,  Arnold,  444. 

Whalley,  the  tyrannicide,  xx. — 
xxxiv. 

Wheelock,  President,  488. 

Whitcomb,  John,  councillor,  264,  265. 

Whipple,  William,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

White,  Benjamin,  councillor,  264,  265, 
351,  388. 

White,  Rev.  John,  of  Dorchester,  xv., 
xvi.    See  Massachusetts. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  479. 

Whiting,  William,  councillor,  388. 

Whitney,  Eli,  cotton-gin,  460. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  461. 

Wilkes-barre,  132. 

WiLLARD,  Joseph,  "  naturalization  in 
American  colonies,"  101. 

William  and  Marys  College,  514. 

Williams  College,  514. 

Williams,  William,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Willis,  William,  History  of  Portland, 
306. 

Wilson,  James,  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Wilson,  Rev.  John,  476. 

Wing,  Stephen,  Cape  Cod  patriot,  253. 

Wise,  Rev.  John,  "  democracy  in 
Christ's  government  in  Church  and 
in  State,"  xxix. 

Winthrop,  John,  "I  wish  oft  God 
would  open  a  way  to  settle  me  in  Ire- 
land,'" 1623;  in  "much  debt,"  his  "one 
great  motive "  for  coming  to  New 
England,  492;  portrait,  154,  by  Van- 
dyke (?),  492;  succeeds  Cradock  as 
governor  of  the  Massachusetts  "com- 
panie,"  or  corporation,  and  super- 
sedes Endecott  as  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts colony,  xi.,xxiii.,  xxiv.;  the 
clergy,  xix. ;  "manuscript  diary,"  or 
"history,"  477,  editions  of,  492;  his 
"Short   Story"  of  the  Antinomian 


INDEX. 


53T 


troubles  noticed,  492;  re-ordains  Eev. 
John  Cotton,  476;  "the  American 
Nehemiah,"  491,  492. 

WiNTHROP,  John,  "  polity  of  Connecti- 
cut," 470.  j 

WiXTHROP,     John,     councillor,    265;  j 
Stiles,  453;  comets,  460. 

WiNTHROP,  Robert  C,  492. 

TTiTHERSPOOif,  John,  453;  Dec.  Ind., 
454. 

WoBURN,  ordination,  477. 

Wood,  Aaron,  councillor,  388. 

WooLCOTT,  Oliver,  453;  Dec.  Ind.,  454 

WoosTEK,  "  martyr  general,"  451. 


Worcester  Cou^•TY,  patriotic,  194. 
Worcester,  Joseph  E.,  lexicographer, 

460. 
WOTTO-,  Sir  Henry,  489. 
Wtman,  Ross,  president  Blacksmiths' 

Convention,  194. 
Wythe,  George,  453;  Dec.  Ind.,  454. 

Yale  College,  Stiles,  399;  Berkeley, 
Franklin,  400,  408;  Smibert,  408,  514. 

"  Yak^kee  Doodle,"  at  Saratoga,  Bur- 
goyne,  326. 

Yarmouth,  Dr.  West,  265. 

YoRKTOw>-,  Ya.,  battle  of,  445,  451. 


The  reverse  of  the  title  pages  was  unavoidably  omitted  in  the  Index. 


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